You Thought They Were Gone
by Sparx893
Summary: It's been several years since the apparent defeat of Itex. Now they're back and they plan to make up for lost time...
1. Prologue

_This is one of my first attempts at publishing a fan-fic, the usual stuff applies so I don't own any of the characters or organisations (with the exception of my OC Jax) and all credit goes to James Patterson for their creation and his continued work on such an amazing series of books. I'm also looking for someone to write parts for this story from the POV of either Itex in general or one of the Doctors specifically, if you want to lend your skills drop a message. Ideally I'd like to incorporate both parts in to this story and credit would be paid to you at the start of each chapter and in the description._

* * *

**Prologue:**

"He's coming round! Quickly make sure the restraints are secure this time we don't want a repeat of last time!"

My vision was initially completely white and then ever so slowly shapes started to form; they started out blurry but eventually my eyes adjusted and I was able to see that I was in some sort of operating room. I tried to move my arms and legs but they were bound to the table I was on and then there was the usual sensation of my back.

"Sorry about the restraints but after all the damage you caused last time we didn't want to take any chances."

A man in his mid-30's had approached me, he was about 1.9m tall, light brown hair and sharp blue eyes that seemed to be able to look right into your very soul. This man was someone I'd come to know very well, he was of course the whole reason I was here, I looked over to him and laughed;

"Come on James; don't tell me you're scared of me? How is Mike by the way, I trust his arm is healing well?"  
"Scared of you?! Don't insult me, I could end your life right here right now!"  
"Ah but you can't, you know as well as I do that if you did carry out the aforementioned threat then you too would be dead within the hour."

I could tell my last comment struck a nerve as James turned away and walked over to a metal trolley, when he returned he had a syringe with a pale red liquid in it. He inserted the syringe into the IV stump inserted into my right arm before looking up at me;

"I may not be able to kill you but that doesn't mean I can't do this…"

He pushed the end of the syringe down and injected the liquid into me, within seconds my whole body was screaming in pain as the liquid attacked my nervous system, within in minutes I was fading into unconsciousness but before the darkness enveloped me completely I heard a second voice whisper in my ear;

"Even anomalies can be understood if one looks hard enough."


	2. First Impressions

**First Impressions:**

I think an introduction and a brief history lesson is in order, my name is Jax I'm supposed to be approaching my 20th Birthday but I seriously doubt that matters here and according to the people in this god forsaken place I'm somewhat of a mystery.

You see about a year ago I was going for a routine physical at the local doctors surgery, nothing out of the ordinary, a few quick physical examinations, a knock my knee with the odd hammer thing and a check on my breathing and then off to have some blood tests. All the physical and blood tests came back fine, or at least that was my initial reaction. A few weeks later I got a phone call from my GP asking me to come in to talk to him about my bloods, a date and time was arranged but I wasn't told what was wrong with my blood. The day of the meeting arrived and as I sat in the waiting room I had a feeling in my gut that everything was going to change over the next few hours, unfortunately I was blissfully unaware of how true that statement would prove to be.

A loud beep brought me away from my thoughts as I saw my name flash up on the computer screen informing me that the doctor was now ready for me, I followed the signs to the room and knocked on the door;

"Come in."

I tentatively opened the door and made my way inside the room. Immediately I saw that there was a 3rd person in here with us I looked at the GP with a somewhat puzzled look before he introduced us.

"Jax this is Dr. James Harlow."  
"Ah so this is Jax, I'm delighted to meet you. I must say your name is very intriguing, it's not one I've heard before."  
"Thank-you, it's a little odd but then again I don't think I'd suit a 'normal' name."

With the introductions over I was sat down and told that my blood tests had returned some anomalous results, exactly what the 'anomalous' part meant neither of the doctors could tell me but I was told the company James worked for had a series of tests that they could do to try and narrow down the possibilities; that was the first time I ever heard the name Itex.


	3. Surprises Are Round Every Corner

**Surprises Are Round Every Corner:**

After the meeting James followed me outside arranged a date for me to come back so that Itex could get the samples they needed, a date one week away was agreed and I bid James goodbye. All the way home I couldn't shake the feeling of something big approaching this time though it wasn't a beep that brought me back to reality but rather a shout for help;

"Stop! Help! He took my bag!"

I looked across the road and saw an elderly women pointing and yelling at a man who was running down the high-street. I gave chase as fast as I could and within a minute I had closed the gap between us down to a few meters, I got closer and closer but as I reached out to grab him he darted down a side street and into an alley behind some shops, I adjusted my course and was breathing down his neck again in no time, this time I wasn't going to let him go. I gathered speed and then put as much force behind as I could so that I launched myself forwards and grabbed his waist, we both crashed to the floor and he dropped the bag. I stood up and went to collect the bag but the guy stood between me and it;

"Mate is one bag really worth all this?"  
"No but you certainly are."

I spun round to see the old lady standing at the entrance of the alleyway, she reached into her coat and pulled out what seemed to be a gun;

"Look if this was all a set-up I can give you what money I have, I've got a phone and an iPod as well but that's it I swear."

There was no response from the lady and then I felt a sharp sting in my side, I looked down to see a syringe and the last few drops of a liquid being injected into me, within seconds I was on the floor paralyzed. The guy just stood over me as the lady walked over, once she too was over me she put her hands behind her head and literally pulled her face off, well I say face it was a mask of course but it was still creepy. Once the mask had been removed I was looking at a women who was no more than 28 years old.

"Josh get my fucking bag, we don't want him lying there too long."

The guy retrieved the bag and handed it to the women who reached in and pulled out a second syringe, she knelt down and injected this one into my neck, the last thing I remember before losing consciousness was the women taking her gun and firing a single shot up in the air.


	4. Welcome

**Welcome:**

My sight returned first but I was still unable to move, after several minutes of panic I was able to move a finger and then over the course of what felt like hours I was able to regain full movement. Once I stood up and surveyed my surroundings my feeling of panic was only increased; I was in a pristine white room with a bed, a sink with a mirror above it and a door with a mirrored window; I guessed it was a one-way mirror so people could look in but I couldn't look out, I also noticed a solitary camera in a corner with a red light blinking on and off.

I turned to the bed and saw a newspaper lying on the pillow, I picked it up but immediately dropped it again when I read the headline;

'Young man dies apprehending mugger…'

I picked up the paper a second time and turned to the main story section, inside I saw a photo of me and then the story detailed how I'd chased a mugger down an alley who had then produced and gun and shot me, according to the story I was then rushed to hospital but died from blood loss. As I read more and more of the article I read how my family was mourning me and how friends had laid tributes at the alley, all the time I felt a mix of anger and sadness welling up inside me, I threw the paper down and screamed at the camera;

"WHY! WHAT THE FUCK HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS. I SWEAR I'LL MAKE YOU FUCKING PAY FOR THIS!"

I flew into a blind rage and started to punch anything I could find which resulted in me pounding against the wall, after several minutes my knuckles were swollen and bloodied and I collapsed in a corner and cried. All I could think about was how everyone I knew and cared about thought I was dead, then my mind turned to the obvious question; why? Why had I been brought here? Why had my death been staged? What was so special about me?

Then a locked was turned and the door opened, I stood up as 2 men and the women who had drugged me walked in.

"Glad to see you're awake."

I remained silent and just glared coldly at them.

"Your animosity towards us is understandable but in time I hope you'll come to understand why we did what we did."

Her apparent carelessness towards my situation reignited the fire inside me, I rushed towards her and grabbed her neck and then using strength I was unaware I possessed I lifted her off the ground.

"Understand? You want me to understand? You've abducted me, staged my death and looked me in this room and you want me to fucking understand! Forgive if I fail to see why I should understand anything you say!"

One of the guys grabbed my wrist and pressed down on a pressure point that made me release my grip on the women and the other kicked the back of my knees so I fell to the floor, the women grabbed the back of my head and pulled it back;

"I don't care how special he thinks you are, if you ever, EVER do anything like that again and I swear to god I will kill you on the spot."

She then turned and looked up the camera before pulling out a walkie talkie and talking into it;

"Prep the lab, he's more than ready."

One of the guys then left briefly and returned with a sandwich and some water, both items were thrown on the bed before all 3 left. As the women turned to close the door she laughed;

"Welcome to Itex and I hope you enjoy your food…..prick."


	5. Anomaly

**Anomaly:**

After eating what can only be described as the worst food I've ever eaten I tried to get some sleep but even that didn't provide any reprieve from my situation. I was plagued by nightmares that woke me on more than one occasion and then when I fell back asleep they resumed, after the 8th time of this happening I decided to stay awake and started to pace round the room. I walked round and round for as long as my sanity would allow and just when I was about to collapse from exhaustion the door opened and in walked the same women who produced yet another syringe and drove it into my neck, this time before unconsciousness embraced me I had just enough wherewithal to make a witty remark;

"This is going to get very old, very quickly."

I might have been the drug but I swear I heard her laugh before I slipped into the darkenss.

Whilst my conscious mind thumbed clumsily about in utter darkness my subconscious mind was feeding bits and pieces of information to me from the outside world, I kept catching snippets of conversations and sounds from various machines, alone this information meant nothing and phrases like;

'…angel…replicate for enhanced growth…the flock…anomaly…'

However once my mind fell silent and I felt the tug of the waking world the pieces would fall into place. Upon my awakening I was greeted by the sight of a different room to the one I occupied earlier, this one had a table and a chair in front of mend the entire left wall was a huge one-way mirror. I tried to move my hand but the ice cold metal around my wrists proved a more than adequate restraint, likewise movement of my legs met with similar results, I lifted my head and looked at myself in the mirror and to say I was mess would be an understatement; I had a bandage all the way up my right arm and sticking out of the bandage was an IV stump, my skin was ghostly white and my eyes were looked as if they had sunk into my head. There was a noise behind me but I couldn't see what was going on, from what I could make out it sounded like a lift was arriving, then someone stepped out and walked down to sit in front of me.

"Hello Jax."  
"James, nice to finally see you."

Dr. Harlow produced a brown file and placed it down in front of me and then he placed a gun down;

"A dart gun, you try anything stupid and you'll be down in seconds."

James then got and walked over to me and undid the restraints that bound my hands. He then sat back down and opened up the file;

"Your blood was truly a remarkable find, upon closer inspection and testing it seems to be an almost identical match for a previous person we worked with."  
"I apologise for not jumping up and down for joy."  
"I'm not finished yet, you see we scrutinised your anatomy, mind and the rest of your body very carefully whilst you were in the labs…"  
"Perverts…"  
"….as I was saying, after our tests it seems you're a near identical match to the previous person which is truly remarkable. The person in question is one of the most astonishing people Itex has ever encountered and we thought she was a one off, however it now seems we were wrong."  
"So where does 'the flock' fit into all this?"  
"'The flock?' I haven't a clue what you're talking about. Now back on subject, we need to carry out more tests and examinations to see how close a match you are to the previous case."  
"You're assuming I'm going to help you."

James closed the file and put the gun back in his coat, as he stood up he looked down at me;

"You assume we need your permission, don't forget to the rest of the world you're dead."

He then walked off behind me and I heard the lift arrive and then depart again, after I was left there with no-one coming in to move me, I fell asleep countless times and each time I awoke I was weaker and weaker, finally after the umpteenth time of waking up I fell forwards unable to support my own weight any longer, even as I supported myself on the table it felt like my own weight was crushing down on me. The lift doors opened and all I heard was;

"I think it's time for the graft…"


	6. Wings

**Wings:**

There was a sharp pain as a needle was inserted into my IV stump and the contents emptied into my blood stream, there was a brief surge in my energy which led me to guess it was adrenaline they'd shot into me, I tried my hardest to stand but even with the adrenaline coursing through me all I could manage was an undignified collapse. Then 2 pairs of hands grabbed my upper arms and dragged me across the floor and into the lift;

"Damn, he's heavier than he looks."  
"Don't worry, after the graft he'll be much lighter, you'd be surprised how heavy solid bones are."

That sentence made my skin crawl and I tried to wrestle free from their grip but I was so weak it was a futile attempt that only succeeded in weakening me even further. There was a high pitched ping and the doors slid open, I was lifted to my feet and dumped on a trolley, however this time before I was strapped down my top was removed and I was laid face down, my back was now exposed and the restraints prevented any form of movement.

I was pushed through several sets of doors before finally coming to a stop, I felt a hand on my back before several 'things' were drawn on my back with a pen;

"We'll attach them here and here, and then once the bones have been grafted we'll extend the nervous system all the way to the tips. Once we have confirmation of successful brain interaction with them we'll start the gene therapy, the avian strands have already been isolated from subject 19 and the tests done on subject 26 show that the total process will take no more than 2 months, however the tests showed that he'll have to be unconscious for the entirety of the change as any undue stress could have severe adverse effects and God only knows what'll happen to us if we fuck this up."

My mind was now in a total panic but my body was so utterly drained of energy that there was nothing I could do. Several seconds later I felt pads being placed across my back, neck and head, as each pad was attached I heard a different monitor ping into life before the entire room was filled with the sounds of an electronic orchestra. After the last pad had been attached and the machine confirmed as working there was the familiar sensation of a needle in the IV, my eyes became heavy and I could feel my mind slipping away.

_2 Months Later_

At first all I was aware of was the constant rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor, then I slurred voices came through. As more and more of my mind awakened from the 2 month medically induced coma I started to take in more and more of my new surroundings and the new sensation emanating from the centre of my back.

Unusually there weren't any restraints holding me down and as soon as I felt strong enough I sat up, I ran my hands through my hair and down my face, when I looked up there were 2 doctors staring at me with a look of astonishment on their faces;

"No matter how times I see this, I'll never get used to it."  
"The graft worked perfectly and they're one of the finest pairs we've even done."

I was still confused and had yet to investigate the feeling on my back so I decided it was question time;

"What the hell are you 2 going on about?"

One of the 2 doctors looked almost astonished I was speaking; he quickly recomposed himself and answered;

"Why don't you take a look in the mirror?"

He motioned behind me and I shakily got off the bed, my legs gave way almost instantly but I managed to catch myself on the bed and try again, luckily the second time met with much more success and I turned around to have a look;

"What the fuck have you done to me?!"

Stretching out from behind my back were a pair of pitch black wings with a span of at least 20ft, I spun back round to the doctors and repeated my question with much more force;

"I SAID WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU BASTARDS DONE TO ME!!"

Rather than an answer, both of them ran out of the room and I heard several locks get turned. I paced round and round the room before spotting a camera in the corner, I shouted my question a third time and several minutes later James walked into the room followed by the women whose name still eluded me.

"Jax, so glad to see your up so soon, now if you would please lie down on the bed we need to make sure your body has fully adapted to the changes."  
"I'm not doing a god damn thing until you give me answers."  
"I'm not going into details but the short version is that you've had avian DNA grafted into your own and the wings you now possess were grafted onto your bone structure and nervous system extended to allow you to control them. The DNA has caused changes within your anatomy such as the hollowing of your bones and the development of 'air sacks' in your lungs to aid respiration."

I stood there utterly stunned, my mind was telling me that he couldn't be telling the truth but sure enough when I looked in the mirror there were quite clearly 2 black wings sprouting out of my back. I shook my head and tried to make a move towards James but the women stepped between the 2 of us and with minimal effort grabbed my wrist, twisted me round and had me in an arm lock;

"On the bed now."

I was in no position to argue, from where she had me she could easily pull my arm out of its socket and that's something I wanted to avoid…at least until I was strong enough to try and fight back anyway. Reluctantly I got back onto the bed and laid face down, James did several checks and even knocked between my new wings which sent a searing pain through my body.

"Everything seems to in perfect condition, inform him of the success and that'll Jax will be ready for the next stages of testing in a day or two."

The women released my arm and then left the room, once we were alone James punched me as hard as he could between my wings.

"Gahhhhhhh!!"  
"Just remember that, that is a single punch, imagine the pain if a needle were driven in there or a you were shot there."

"You try anything, anything at all and I'll take great pleasure…"

James was cut off before I heard a new voice enter the room;

"I sincerely hope you wouldn't dream of damaging our most successful specimen to date Dr. Harlow, otherwise you may find yourself in an equally unappealing situation."

There was sinlence before James stammered into an answer;

"No Sir, I was just…..I was just making sure that Jax knew his place."  
"Well I do hope so for your sake, anything happens to him and it'll be you that has to answer for it."  
"Yes Sir understood Sir."

There was another period of silence during which I assumed the new voice had left the room and James then knelt down and whispered in my ear;

"Anything at all…"


	7. Back to Basics

**Back to Basics:**

James then left the room and I was alone, I got off the bed and took another look in the mirror. The image reflecting back at me still seemed unreal, I mean how the hell was this even possible? Each wing was roughly 3m wide and stretched from my shoulders to just above my knees. As I stood there I remembered what James had said about my newly extended nervous system;

'Looks like I'm going back to basics with these.'

Standing perfectly still I tried my hardest to think about moving my new wings, for ages nothing happened and then I was able to retract the left one ever so slightly in towards my body. I persisted with the thoughts and then the right one started to move.

'Right now let's try getting them moving together.'

I stretched both wings out as far as they would go before trying to retract them both together, after several attempts I managed to get both working in unison. With the first challenge over I then turned my attention to trying to get them fully retracted, this would prove easier said than done. Every attempt I made would meet with failure, I'd manage to bring the wings in so far but then it would feel like a bone was turning the wrong way and the wings would get stuck. To try and solve this I moved over to a wall and leant on the wing as I tried to retract it, there were several seconds of resistance before something gave and my right wing finally retracted all the way, I repeated the process with the left wing and then went to have another look in the mirror. Whilst they weren't anywhere near as visible as they were when they were outstretched they could still be seen, most notably by my legs and above my shoulders but they kept within the width of my body quite nicely. Over the next few hours I spent ages performing repetitive movements with each one getting finer and finer, by the end I was able to manipulate the feathers at the tips of my wings if I focused hard enough.

"You seem to be a fast learner."

I spun round to see the women standing behind me;

"How long have you been there?"  
"Long enough to see what I needed to see."  
"And that means what exactly?"

It was only now I was able to get a good look at the women who had been responsible for my capture, I'd already guessed she was about 28 but her entire build had an eerie almost feral feel to it, her face had very defined features and she had a very lean body but she looked like she would be more than capable of defending herself in a fight.

"Follow me."

The women turned and walked out of the room, relishing the first time to actually walk anywhere for months I quickly followed suit.

"I've seen you several times and I haven't heard you're name yet."  
"If you must know, my name is Amy."  
"Well Amy, where are you taking me this time? Am going to get drugged for the millionth time and wake up with this time?"

There was silence so I assumed that my attempt at humour had either gone unnoticed or she had ignored it. We walked for several minutes through a maze of corridors and every so often we'd walk past a windowed room, the people inside would all stop and watch as I passed before returning to their work, finally we arrived at what looked to be a gym. I walked in and the door was shut behind me before being locked, in front of me was a treadmill and yet more monitoring equipment. Then a second door at the back of the room opened and 3 people came out, when they reached me they looked me up and down before turning to Amy;

"Are you sure the procedure was a success? He doesn't seem as fit as the others did."

A look of anger sparked across Amy's face before disappearing;

"James said he's good to go so he's good to go. Get him hooked up and let's see what's what."

The guy turned and walked away muttering something under his breath, he reached behind the monitor and grabbed several wires that were then plugged into the treadmill, meanwhile the other 2 people (1 male and 1 female) had disappeared and returned with some fresh clothes and what looked to be a glass of water. They handed me both items and I just stood there unsure of what to do, they guy over by the treadmill turned around;

"When given clothes, one generally tends to put them on. As for the water do you need to be reminded how to drink as well?"

Not wanting to make an even bigger fool of myself I drank the water and then put on the new clothes; although changing in front of 4 people was a little uneasy. I was then taken over to the treadmill, once I was standing on it Amy told me the purpose of the test;

"This will measure you're new cardiovascular levels, the machine to your right has numerous records on it from past subjects, if you're as unique as the people here believe you are then you should have no trouble in surpassing the toughest of records."  
"And what if I want to stop?"

The guy who had berated me earlier laughed;

"You stop when you collapse and not a second before."

Amy shot a glare at him before continuing;

"Mike will start the machine and monitor the test, once it is completed you'll be given food and water before being returned to your room. Mike start the test…"

Mike pushed a few buttons and the treadmill beeped before starting to move, after about a minute Amy whispered something in Mike's ear before walking out the room. The test started out quite easily and got progressively harder, as it reached the maximum speed I started to really struggle for breath to Mike's amusement;

"We've been going and hour and you're already tiring, you're pathetic."

Determined to prove him wrong I started to try and control my breathing and make better use of each breath, to my amazement my breathlessness started to retreat and before long I was back to full pace again;

"How's that for pathetic?"

Mike just grunted and went back to looking at the monitors, after a further 4 hours my new breathing method was starting to fail and my leg felt like they were made of lead. I tried to gather the energy I needed to continue but it was no good, my legs collapsed and I fell to the bottom of the treadmill before being pushed off and tumbling across the floor. The treadmill then came to a stop and Mike walked over to me;

"5 hours, 27 minutes and 58 seconds. I will admit I expected you to fail after the first hour."

I was still breathing heavily trying to regain oxygen in my system but between breaths I was able to reply;

"Shows…..what…..you…..know…..prick….."

Once Mike had gotten all the data he needed he left the room, Amy then arrived back and escorted me back to the room. When I was back inside I was given something that resembled Pasta as well as a glass of water, as Amy left and the door closed I walked up to it and pressed my ear against the door hoping to hear something, I could make out much but the bit I did pick up made my stomach turn;

"…..combat trials in 24 hours….."


	8. Fight

**Fight…**:

Despite my best efforts I couldn't push what I'd heard out of my mind. What sort of combat trials did they have in mind? How dangerous were these trials going to be? Perhaps most important of all, who the hell would I be fighting? I tried to grab some sleep but my mind was too busy trying to make some sort of sense and perhaps try and prepare me for the approaching test. Finally I decided the best use of my time would be to try and remember everything I used to teach as a kickboxing instructor, I sat on the floor and crossed my legs, I closed my eyes and tried to slow my breathing. Eventually I felt my heart slow and my mind clear, I started to go over every single technique I knew starting with the very basic ones like the Jab all the way up to the most difficult ones like the Tornado Kick. My eyes snapped open when someone came in to my room, this clearly caught the poor guy off guard as he dropped the tray he was carrying and almost ran out of the room, I climbed to my feet and went to see what he had brought me. My hopes of a decent meal had been dashed, instead there was a small cylindrical pot holding several pills, I picked up the pot and held it up to the light.

'Like fuck I'm taking these.'

I took each pill out of the pot and crushed it in my hand before blowing the resulting dust across the room, doing this knowing someone was watching me through the camera gave me a small sense of satisfaction. I then returned to my preparations for the rapidly approaching trials, having gone through all the techniques in my head I started to stretch out to ensure that I wouldn't cause myself any undue damage, finally I started to practice the techniques I'd gone over in my head.

Time must've passed much quicker than I realised as the door of my room soon opened and in walked James closely followed by two guards each holding a gun with a weird black and yellow block on the end.

"Stun guns Jax, you try and anything and several thousand volts will be coursing through your body in seconds."

He stood aside and I walked out of the door, once I was outside one of the guards came up behind me and hand-cuffed my wrists behind my back, then a brace was put around my chest that forced my wings against my body and restricted any sort of movement from them, once the brace had been tightened to the point of making it difficult to breathe one of the stun guns was shot into my side but not activated.

"Now that you're secure please follow me."

I resisted the urge to make a snide comeback as I feared the consequences would far outweigh the gratification. I was then marched through a series of corridors and doors before reaching a door that had a big sign above it;

'Environmental Simulation Suite 1'

My hands were un-cuffed and the brace loosened but not removed before I was shoved through the door, when I climbed to my feet I was lost for words.

Sprawling out before me was an artificial forest, if it wasn't for the roof overhead I could have sworn that I was outside. I walked cautiously forward and into the forest, as I went further and further in I started to realise just how big the place was; it was at 200m long and 200m wide, as I approached the middle I circular metal slab in the ground.

"Jax. This is a combat trial to see how your new anatomy has altered your strength and natural resilience to damage."

An unseen speaker had been activated and James's voice was now booming around the room, then the metal slab in the ground started to lower and I heard several voices down in the hole, then the slab began to raise again and I saw 3 people standing in the middle; 2 male and one female. Just like Amy these people had a strange feral look to them, before I could get a better look at them one of them jumped up ahead of the others;

"Ha, well look here you two; this one isn't even trying to run. Perhaps they haven't told him what we did to his predecessors. Tell ya what lad, we'll give you a head-start seen as we're all in the mood a decent bit of sport today."

Something in the back of my mind me to take the offer of a head-start and run so I did a quick 180 and tried to put as much space between me and them as I possibly could, several seconds later I heard the same guy shout;

"Ready or not, here we come!"

Within in seconds they had caught up to me and had surrounded me.

'How are they so quick, I was running as fast as I could!'

Without warning the attacks began…

The guy who had given me the head-start launched the first move, he leant forward and then used his off-balance to carry himself forward, as he drew level with me he threw an uppercut into my lower jaw; there was an awful cracking sound as I was launched skyward before crashing back to the ground. The second guy rushed up and grabbed my legs and from there spun me round on the spot, on the 3rd spin he released his grip and I was sent hurtling towards the women who launched into a flying side kick, I was helpless as her foot slammed into my stomach, I collapsed to the floor winded and gasping for breath. The guy who had attacked me first came over and stamped his foot down on my IV stump.

"Gyahhhhhh!"

I screamed out in absolute pain;

'This has to stop, I won't be beaten this easily!'

As he lifted his foot for a second stamp I gathered some strength and launched from where I was straight upwards, I caught his foot as it reached its highest point and then carried on moving forwards till he lost balance and fell flat on his arse. The other two attackers were shocked by sudden counter but quickly regained composure and resumed the attack, the 2nd guy rushed at me with his fist raised, just before he reached me I side-stepped to the right and dragged my rear foot along the ground, as he passed me I brought my foot up and swept his legs out from under him, as he fell I carried on raising my leg and then brought and axe kick crashing down on his chest, the air rushed out of him and I felt one of his ribs crack. The women then came up behind me started to throw multiple punches, I spun round and started to defend myself. I was blocking her attacks as fast as I could but she clearly a cut above the 2 guys when it came to fighting, after several attacks she broke through my guard and landed a punch square in my stomach; luckily I'd remembered to expel as much air from my body as I could so when the attack connected it hurt but I wasn't winded. I regained my composure and grabbed her hand as she was throwing a second punch, I brought my rear palm upwards and through her elbow, there was a almighty crack as she reeled back in pain clutching her arm;

"Ahhhh! My fucking arm."

I had no time to relish the defeat though as the other guys had re-joined the fight and as I spun round to meet them I saw that the first one had now produced a knife;

"Let's see how you deal with this…"

They both rushed at me but my focus remained solely on the knife, he swung the weapon in a large sweeping arc, I brought my inner arm close to my body so any important veins or arteries were protected from the blade and I spun into his attack, as I'd expected the attack connected and slashed my outer arm so all I had to deal with was the pain as the bleeding wasn't too severe. He carried on past me and then came around for another attack, this time I dropped my weight back and let my front foot go light, as he came closer I launched upwards driving my rear knee onwards and upwards, my knee crashed into his jaw knocking him back slightly and then I brought my rear leg forward and completed my flying front kick, he was knocked back and lost his grip on the knife. When I landed I carried on dropping till I was flat on the ground, I grabbed the knife and ran off into the trees. I knew I would be caught again in seconds so when I saw a low enough branch I clambered up it. Seconds later my pursuers were at the base of the tree I was trying to hide in and James's voice came booming through the speakers;

"Jax, the only way you're getting out is by defeating those 3."

I had hoped they were just wanting to see what I was capable of but it seemed I had to up my game if I hoped to get out, as the 3 of them tried to climb the tree I waited until one of them was semi-isolated, luckily one of them remained at the base of the tree as the other 2 tried to climb up, as they climbed, I attacked. I jumped from the branch I was perched on collided with the guy guarding the base, we both fell to the floor but I managed to get up first and put all my strength behind a punch to his lower canines, the force of the punch on the pressure point knocked him out cold. The other 2 jumped down after me, hoping to scare them I drew the knife;

"I don't want to hurt you but I will if you don't stop."

The women backed off ever so slightly but the guy ignored my warning and raced forward, without even thinking I lowered the knife and once he was close enough I rammed it into his lower stomach. He collapsed into my arms as I supported him with my arm, I could've sworn his nails were digging into my back and scratching me but I didn't have time to check so I withdrew the knife and stabbed him several more times, after the final time I threw him to the floor and turned to the women;

"Last chance!"

She just laughed and before I even knew what had happened she had closed the several meter gap down to mere centimetres and had head-butted me backwards, I dropped the knife and clutched my head. Through my fingers I could see her running towards me so I lowered my hands and caught her both her fists, she unclenched the fists and out fingers interlocked; we were now struggling trying to get an upper-hand on the other.

As I struggled I saw her hands start to change; her fingers grew longer and her nails extended until and change shape till they resembled claws, she dug her claws into my hands until I relinquished my grip, as my arms fell she slashed my left arm before punching my jaw and sending me spinning round, as my back came to face her I felt a searing pain as she slashed deep gouges out of my flesh. I buckled under the pain and fell to the floor, I was writhing around in pain waiting, I clenched my eyes shut and waited for the next attack but instead I heard an awful sound that sounded like bones warping and contorting quickly followed by a gun shot. I opened my eyes surprised that I hadn't felt the bullet's entrance into me, however when I looked up I saw a crimson hole in the women's head. She fell to the floor and blood started to pool around her.

I staggered to my feet still reeling in pain and looked behind me to see Amy, she turned and walked over to a second person who had just carried over the guy I'd knocked out, he was dumped to the floor before Amy raised the gun and fired a second shot into his skull. She holstered her gun and turned to the man who had just carried the other guy over;

"I thought I fucking told you all there was to be no shifting in the first few fights! What part of that is so fucking difficulty to understand."

The man remained silent, Amy clearly furious at him drew her gun again and fired a third shot into his chest, he staggered backwards and fell against a tree, she took aim for a fourth shot;

"Is this the only message you understand!!"

The shot echoed around the enclosed area like thunder, before the whole place fell silent save for the sound of my heavy breathing and occasional gasp as pain surged through me from my wounds. As quickly as Amy had appeared she was gone again, I felt my legs give way underneath me and I crumpled to the ground, not long after several men and women in long white coats surrounded me and injected something into my IV, whatever they'd shot into me I went all giggly and as James walked over and looked down on me I laughed hysterically and raised both my middle fingers at him. He just frowned;

"Get him fixed up…"


	9. Or Flight

As I came round my whole body felt stiff, then as my memory returned to me I recalled the fight and then the stiffness made sense, unusually though I was in my room. I stood up to survey my surroundings, sprawled out before me was a space that was roughly the same length as 4 football fields and about the height of a 5 story building.

"This is where you'll learn to use your wings."

I spun round to see James looking past me and out over the vast empty space.

"Well I don't have a choice in the matter do I."  
"Of course not but…"  
"I was speaking rhetorically doctor."

I saw a look of anger cross James's face before dispersing back to his usual calm façade, clearly being one upped by his prisoner had hit a nerve. He turned around and pushed a button protruding up from the ground on a podium, the area we were standing on then started to raise itself until we were the height of a single story, the platform shuddered and ground to a halt, a door slide open and James walked through it, before he closed he told me what I was to do;

"When this door closes the platform will become electrified if you don't jump after several seconds. When you land you are to return to the platform and repeat the exercise you will not be permitted to leave until you can jump from the 5th level and fly without fault the full length of the room."

The door between us closed and I was left alone; "How do you guys afford all this crap!?"

Then I felt a sharp jolt travel up through my bare-feet, it seemed James hadn't been bluffing. I ran forwards and jumped off; I plummeted straight down and crashed into the floor. I got up and thought myself lucky that my physiology had been enhanced to the point where the fall was nothing more than a minor inconvenience…pain-wise anyway. I got back to my feet and I felt a hand on my shoulder;

"Amy, we have to stop meeting like this."

My joke was lost on the women; "Walk."

I was marched back to the platform and sure enough once it had stopped the floor became electrified again, every jump I made met with the same fate; an undignified fall back to the ground. I just couldn't get my wings open quick enough, during each walk back I practiced opening and closing my wings, then on what felt like the 50th time (and most likely was) I opened them and felt them take my weight, this presented me with my next issue; control. After the fall this time I tried to remember how I'd moved the tips after I'd woken the first time and had been greeted with my wings. On ground level I could manipulate the feathers just fine but each time I tried in the air I just couldn't concentrate, however the old adage of; 'Practice makes perfect' soon proved true and I was able to gain some control over my flight path, although more often than not I couldn't control where I'd end up, which was usually face-planting into a wall. By now the platform was at its 3rd height level and each fall was starting to hurt more and more. After hours and hours of practice I finally did a near perfect flight; I jumped off the platform and snapped my wings open, I felt the air catch them and I put several powerful strokes down before manipulating the wings and gliding to the other end of the room, when I arrived at the other end I remembered I still hadn't perfected landing and ended up sliding along my stomach in the wall. I stood back up and Amy was there pointing a gun at me;

"Move."  
"What a dart gun again?"

She fired a shot to my side and the room bounced the sound waves around for several seconds; "What the fuck?"  
"Move."  
"Okay, okay."

I was guided to a door and then 2 other guards came out and cuffed my hands together before putting a brace over my wings, from here I was marched through the facility and back to my room, once I was inside the brace and the cuffs were removed and I collapsed on to what I'd now come to call a bed and fell asleep.


	10. For Every Action

My dreams were being plagued by visions of the people I'd been forced to kill in the fights I'd been subjected to. Over and over again my mind would play their final seconds to me and I'd have to sit there and watch, a few of them didn't do too much to me but there was one that kept waking me up in a cold sweat.

* * *

_About a week ago I'd been in a particularly violent fight, the people in there hadn't done the same weird shifting that the guys in my first fight had but in this fight there were weapons and it lasted for several hours. I'd keep running round the fake woodland trying to lose them or to find a suitable area to stop and catch my breath but they just kept coming and coming never relenting and always landing a few big strikes. _

_As the fight progressed I found myself getting more and more angry before I finally snapped, when the group of them found me for the last time I went berserk, I floored them all in a matter of seconds and took their weapons, from there they each died an awfully painful and prolonged death. When I came to finish my final attacker he was just like the others; or at least he was until his last gasps._

_I'd driven the knife into his chest and he was bleeding heavily, every so often he'd cough blood up and then as his life began to fade his expression changed and a look of horror and sadness crossed his face, he turned to me and tears were running down his face;_

"_I'm sorry; I wasn't always like this…"_

_His eyes then rolled back his last breath escaped his body._

* * *

His final words kept playing over and over in my head, what if they weren't all evil, what if they'd been taken like me and warped and tormented until they lost themselves and became nothing more than puppets. As my mind dwelled on this possibility it began to think of the other dozen or so people I'd killed.

Then one night I snapped awake and broke out in a cold sweat, at the same time my mind was swirling; I couldn't form any coherent thoughts it was just noise. I grabbed my head and tried to stand up but fell to the floor, I writhed around trying to make the noise stop and then I heard voices coming through the chaos;

"Murderer!"  
"Killer!"  
"Monster!"  
"Psycho!"  
"Freak!"

I started to shout out; "Shut up! Shut up! Just leave me alone."

No matter what I tried I couldn't make the voices stop they just kept shouting and the chaos I my mind worsened, I started to hallucinate. I saw each and every person I killed standing over me looking down at the quivering wreck I'd become, then the voices I was hearing started to come out their mouth's , I managed to stand up and try to attack them to make them shut up, I threw punch after punch but my mind wasn't twigging on to the fact that I was hitting a wall and in the process had broken my fist which was now covered in my blood.

Through the chaos I was aware of new voice, one that I recognised but my mind couldn't place it, then when I saw the face I realised it was James and next to him was Amy and behind the 2 of them was Mike.

"Amy quickly, hold him down! Mike get the damn sedative ready!"

Amy approached me but I was still in a state of utter chaos and I tried to fend her off, she easily avoided my pitiful attacks and had me pinned in seconds, but still I was struggling trying to get free.

"You fucking bastards!!You've done this to me!!"

Mike then stuck a needle into my IV but nothing happened, I kept on fighting to get free as Amy shouted at Mike; "Get another dose and make sure you pump him so full of the stuff he'll be out for weeks!"

I felt a second injection and this one was much longer, at first there was nothing and I was still fighting, I managed to get free from Amy's grip and stood up, now I had double vision and I couldn't focus on anything, I turned around to see Amy throw a punch at me; "Get down!"

The punch connected and I was out cold.

_One Week Later_

As I came to I was aware of several pads across my body and head, I sat up and my head felt like it had the worst hangover in the world.

"The headache will pass soon enough."

I looked to my right to see Mike standing over a machine looking at the paper it was spewing out.

"What the hell happened to me?"

Mike looked up for just a second before returning to his papers; "To put it simply your mind had a psychotic break down, it was overwhelmed although by what we don't know."

I felt anger well up inside me; "I'll tell you what fucking caused it. You've made me kill at least a dozen people while I've been in here and you didn't think even for a second it would have repercussions!"

Alarms started sounding on the machines and Mike looked up at me but by that time I'd already torn the pads off and made my over to him, I grabbed his arm and brought it round his back, I leant into his ear and whispered; "I could snap your arm out it's fucking socket from here and you can't do anything to stop me."

A second alarm was now sounding in the room and several doctors came rushing in, I forced Mike's arm upwards until I heard a snap, I dropped Mike to the floor who was now clutching his arm in pain;

"My arm! You fucking prick!"

I stood perfectly still and glared at the group of doctors, I unfurled my wings slightly and they took several steps back. A sharp pain shot through my head and I clutched at it in pain as I let out a huge scream, in seconds I was brought to my knees and again I heard the voices although this time they were different, this time they were actually speaking in sentences;

'Shit! He's been pushed too far, his mind is collapsing.'  
'I don't get paid enough to deal with this…'  
'I hope to god Amy gets here soon so I don't have to restrain him.'

The pain increased 10-fold and I soon passed out.

_Several weeks later_

'James I'm telling you his mind is developing too quickly he has to remain heavily sedated while it adapts to the changes.'  
'So is he developing the same traits as subject 6?'  
'At this stage we can't tell but if the changes keep progressing along our predicted path then soon he will at least have basic mind reading capabilities.'  
'Then he may be the key to finally capturing her and unlocking her secrets.'  
'Like I said it's too early to tell.'

I felt my mind start to claw its way back to reality and soon enough I was awake.

This is where you joined me and now you're up to speed with everything I'll continue…..


	11. An Unlikely Meeting

_A tiny update today but hopefully it'll hold your attention until the next big event-THE ESCAPE!! Anyone who has read the first 3 books of the Maximum Ride series will undoubtedly be able to work out who Subject 6 is but I didn't wanna make it too difficult XD_

_P.S I'm still looking for people to write parts of the story from Itex's and James's POV, later on down the line I'll also be looking for some POV's of the flock so if anyone's interested please get in touch._

_Anyway enough ramblings from me, enjoy the chapter!!! _

* * *

**An Unlikely Meeting:**

Even when I was unconscious I could still feel the burning brought on by the injection James had given me. No matter how many times I was drugged, punched or exhausted I could still never get used to being unconscious, your mind just stumbles around in utter darkness trying to find its way back to the waking world.

As I stumbled around I thought this time would be no different but then a cone of light shone down on me blinding me, when my 'sight' had returned there was a girl standing in front of me, well I say a girl it was more of a silhouette of a girl.

"I knew it! I knew I could sense another mind-reader!" The girls voice sounded quite young and full of excitement, I'd have guessed that she was no more than 13/14 years old.

"Excuse me? Mind-reader?"

Then I remembered the conversation I'd heard between James and another doctor.

"What the hell have Itex done to me now?"  
"Itex?! No, they shouldn't exist, we made sure of that!" The excitement had abandoned her voice only to be replaced by a tone of pure terror.  
"Well why don't you tell them that. Maybe then they'd let me go."  
"I…I have to go, I have to let the rest of the flock know that Itex have come back."  
"Wait! You just said 'the flock', I heard that same phrase used just before they grafted my wings onto me."  
"Wings! Oh dear, this isn't good. I really have to go now, they need to know this."  
"Please at least tell me your name."  
"I can't tell you my name, not if Itex are involved with you. However when Itex had me I was known as Subject 6."

The light disappeared and I was plunged back into darkness, I stood there for what felt like an eternity trying to put together what had just happened but there were too many blank spaces that I didn't information for.

'What the hell is going on?'


	12. Eraser 3,0

**Eraser 3.0:**

Usually when I wake up from being unconscious it takes me a while to come fully round, this time though my eyes snapped open and I was on high alert; I was back in the fight arena.

"Jax…" James had appeared behind me and as always he was flanked by Amy.  
"…since you seem to be more than capable of dispatching human opponents we now need to go to the next level to see if our modifications are proving successful."  
"Modifications? What have you sick fucks done to me now?"  
James laughed mockingly and shook his head in amusement; "Not you Jax, we've already altered you as much as we need. No these modifications involve Amy and the rest of the Erasers."

There something about the word Eraser that made me feel deeply unsettled.

"Erasers?"  
"Yes Jax Erasers, Amy would you be so kind as to demonstrate."

Amy walked forward and for the first few seconds nothing happened but then I saw her lower arms and legs start to shift and change, several seconds later her lower arms had legs had shifted till they resembled those of wolves. James then took a few steps closer to me;

"This Jax is an Eraser, well to be more precise this is an Eraser 3.0. The first ones could almost fully shift form but the more and more they shifted the more and more there 2 forms began to meld into one. The second ones had a slightly reformed shifting method as well as the addition of wings, however due to our primitive grafting techniques the wings proved almost useless. A downside shared by both the 1.0 and 2.0 models was a reduction in intelligence, a side-effect of the gene therapy. However with the 3.0's we've reduced the amount of gene manipulation needed, this means that they can shift as much as the want and the 2 forms will stay separate, it also means that their intelligence remains 100% intact."  
"You said the second attempt at the Erasers had wings, Amy clearly doesn't have any." I knew James would have an answer for such an obvious statement but there was a smug part of me that just loved to try and rub his face in any mistakes or oversights.  
"Yes and I also said our grafting techniques were primitive compared to the process that gave you your wings. Before you ask why we can't use that method on Amy and the others the answer is simple, manipulating 2 forms of DNA is far easier than manipulating 3. Also it means that we can focus more of our attention on perfecting them for combat, as a result the 3.0 versions have enhanced healing and regenerative properties as well as physical traits that far outclass any human."  
"Yet I still seem to be able to beat them in the fights you've put me in." Again I was trying to rub James's face into his mistake.  
"Whilst they are I human form these traits are severely repressed, once they have fully shifted though they are at their most potent. Anyway enough of this, I came here to see you fight the 3.0's and that's what I'll see. Amy…"

Amy produced a small remote and once she'd pressed the button the now familiar hole in the ground opened and as the platform rose I saw 3 fully shifted Erasers.

"Do try and keep yourself in one piece Jax."

I turned and saw James and Amy leaving through a secondary door concealed in a tree. Then the laughter of the 3 Erasers behind me refocused my mind on the situation at hand.

'Well at least they haven't bound my wings this time…'

Before I knew what was going on 3 huge gashes had been made in my chest by the first Eraser, I fell back partly in pain and partly in shock at how quick they were. I quickly clambered to my feet and ran, I unfurled my wings and put down several powerful strokes to try and get airborne. I hadn't even got above the treeline before I felt a huge weight on my back, an Eraser had jumped from their position landed on my back and had as a result sent me off balance and careering into the ground below. When I hit the floor I felt them dig their feet into me scratching my back before launching off me and letting me slide headfirst into a nearby tree, I gathered myself back up and turned to face my attackers;

"Fine if running won't work I guess I'll to fight!!!"

I sprinted at top speed towards the 3 Erasers, as I got closer 2 of them jumped behind me and the 3rd swept my legs out from under me, I put shoulder down to the ground and rolled out of the fall, I jumped back up to my feet, put down a single powerful stroke from my wings and launched into a Flying Crescent Kick, my attack connected with the Eraser who was following up their sweep and they were sent tumbling across the ground, that kick would've easily broken the jaw of a human but the Eraser shrugged it off and was back attacking in seconds. Several more attacks and the results were the same; no matter how hard I tried they just shrugged off my attacks as if they were nothing.

Minutes passed and my wounds started to pile up, I had scratches across most of my body and my left arm had blood running down it from a particularly deep wound. I was taking a pounding and I couldn't see a way to stop it. I tried to run again and this time I actually got some distance down between us, once I thought I was safe I dashed up a tree and tried to formulate a plan. As I sat there waiting for the Erasers to make their move I suddenly heard another voice in my head;

"He's here somewhere, I can smell his fear."

This didn't make any sense why would a voice in my head be speaking like this and then the penny dropped;

'Holy shit, I am a mind reader!'

Somehow my mind was picking up the thoughts of the nearby Eraser, it wasn't a constant commentary but it was enough to help create a plan.

As carefully as I could I made my way through the trees to where he was, as I approached I picked up on him noting where I was; turned out I wasn't as quiet as I thought I was. This early warning proved to be a life saver, I jumped from my spot as high as I could and the instant I'd left the branch I'd been perched on the Eraser was on it. I lowered my knee and came crashing down onto him below, the branch snapped and we both hurtled into the earth below. I came of slightly better than the Eraser below me and when I got up and looked down I saw that he'd shifted back to his normal human form, I was unsure as to why this had happened but I wasn't going to question this bit of luck, I rolled him over and searched his clothes. Several seconds later I had a 9mm pistol and a knife in my possession;

'They were never going to fight fair!'

I heard approaching sounds and my mind caught a brief flash of an approaching Erasers mind, I dived into a bush and tried to stay as quiet as possible, as the 2 remaining Erasers burst into the clearing one of them laughed at the sight of their defeated partner;

"Ha, he always did have trouble maintaining his shifted form. Well you know the price of failure."

The Eraser drew their own pistol and shot the guy in the head.

I tried to suppress the gasp but it was no use, they'd heard me. I rolled over onto my back and drew my knife in preparation, seconds later an Eraser came crashing through the bushes and on top of me. I'd expelled all the air in stomach beforehand so I'd been able to avoid being winded but his claws still dug into my stomach. I gritted my teeth and fought through the excruciating pain; I brought my knife up and drove it into the beast's leg. He jumped back howling in pain but I wasn't going to stop now, I adjusted my hold on the knife and thrust it up into his stomach, there was a second of resistance before the blade broke though and I felt blood run down my arm, his whole body went heavy and collapsed into me; I stepped to the side and let the body fall to the ground.

A shot rang out and a tree centimetres from me showered me in splinters, I spun round to see the third and final Eraser standing in front of me holding his pistol. I dived to the ground and then ran off as fast as I could, I was aware of my pursuer closing the gap between us, while I ran I tried to focus in on the mind of the Eraser but I couldn't hear anything, so I tried to focus harder and harder. My head suddenly exploded with pain and I thought I 'd been shot but I couldn't feel any blood, the pain died down seconds later and I looked around to try and see the Eraser, I eventually found him in the most unlikely of places…..dead at my feet.

'Have I just killed someone with my mind?'


	13. A Downward Spiral

**A Downward Spiral:**

After the incident with the incident of the Eraser dying with no obvious cause the tests on me were ramped up to new heights I was now constantly hooked up to machines measuring brain activity or some other sort of reading that I couldn't care less about, no what I cared most about was the way my mind was slowly falling to pieces.

It started with little things first; nothing like the first break-down. I'd hear the odd voice and turn to see who was talking only to see empty space, or I'd see one of the people I'd killed standing over me looking down with a look of disgust; these progressed and soon there were constant voices and constant hallucinations. Of course these mental changes didn't go unnoticed and as the days progressed the tone of the various doctors voices became more and more panicked;

"His mind is burning up! The changes are simply happening too fast…"  
"We warned him that this would happen, Subject 6 has grown up alongside her abilities. Here the abilities are growing at an exponential rate to compensate for 20 years of lost growth, his mind simply can't adapt that quickly!"  
"If this keeps up we'll lose him to Psychosis or Schizophrenia and then he'll be useless…"

I heard every word they said but I didn't care, the more and more I slipped into insanity the more and more I was able to remove myself from the situation, then several weeks later I lost control and I saw the monster that Itex had created unleashed.

I was strapped to a table with various sensors taped to my body and head, there was a doctor sitting at a machine looking at numerous readouts whilst a second was monitoring the machines next to me, every so often he'd note something down on his clipboard or go and say something to the first doctor. As I lay there I heard a little voice whisper in my ear;

'You could kill them you know. All you have to do is let me in.'

At first I listened to the voice but paid it little real attention (the numerous drugs I had flowing through my system probably helped with this), however this voice was different it persisted and kept going on and on and on before I finally gave in.

'Fine! I'll let you in just shut up! Please!'

There was a sudden scream and I looked over to the first doctor, he was clutching his head and screaming, the machines in front of him were displaying red lights and the beeps had given way to sirens. Seconds later there was a second scream as the other doctor fell to the floor holding his head and screaming out in pain. All whilst this was happening I was unable to do anything, it was like my body had been put on autopilot and I was just along for the ride, no matter how much I tried I was helpless in the truest sense of the word.

After several minutes both of the doctors stopped moving and fell still, a little part of my mind felt their pulses stop and the life leave their bodies. However through the whole situation no-one had come in to assist the now deceased men, there were no guards, no additional doctors and there wasn't any sight of Amy or James.

'Their minds were weak and their bodies weaker, they didn't deserve to live.' The voice now sounded stronger and more real, I tried to argue with it but my attempts proved futile the voice kept shouting and I could feel it growing stronger.

All around me the equipment was starting to shake and the lights above me were flickering on and off, the machine that was monitoring the sensors attached to my head began to smoke before all the lights and alarms fell silent. The machines monitoring my body were conversely not showing any abnormal readings. Still there was no sight or sound of any support coming to try and subdue me or assist the doctors, there was nothing at all and that was deeply troubling.

The shaking grew more and more violent;

'You see Jax, they've altered you, they've pushed, they've changed you but after all this they've realised one thing…they fear what you've become.'

The voice was now shouting at me and I could do little to resist it but then a second more familiar voice started talking;

'Jax, you have to fight this! Don't let yourself fall victim to your own mind!'  
'Subject 6?'  
'Jax listen to me, we're looking for you! We've done some digging and found out where several new Itex facilities are. We're coming to find you but you have to fight this, we can't save you if you can't save yourself!'

There was a brief silence before the voice of my insanity kicked back;

'Ignore her! She doesn't have a clue what she's going on about! You've already seen what I'm capable of, let me carry on and I'll have you out of here in no time!'

Even though the voice now felt like it was the most powerful thing in the world, it's last sentence gave me the resolve to fight it;

'You're right. I have seen what you're capable of and you're no better than Itex. I won't let them warm me into some twisted monster full of hatered, I'm taking my mind back!'

The machines in the room were no being flung around like they were caught in a tornado, they smashed into walls and several shattered into numerous chunks and shards. At the same time I was fighting for control of my mind, the voice was powerful and a testament to how the experiments had affected my mind but I wasn't going to let Itex beat me; not now, not ever!

I finally regained control and the room fell silent, the machines stopped moving and fell to the floor and I was left alone.

'Jax, we're coming for you…'

As the voice of Subject 6 left my mind the door opened and several people came to remove the bodies of the doctors I'd killed, after the bodies had been removed and the machines cleared up a second set of machines was wheeled in and I was hooked up to them. A third doctor came in and took a look at the first few readings, and then he stepped over to me and asked me a series of questions. When he was convinced he'd heard all he needed to he took a radio out of his jacket and spoke into it;

"All's clear, his Psi readings have returned to normal and a brief psychological analysis have shown that the Schizophrenia has subsided."

There was several seconds of static before James's voice crackled over the speaker;

"Good, it seems our initial hypothesis was correct, his mind has developed Psionic abilities similar to those of Subject 6 and the data we gathered from this little incident is already proving useful in our other experiments and theories."

The doctor who had examined me hesitated before speaking for a second time, this time his voice had a more sombre tone to it; "Sir, what about Jones and Hammersmith?"

"Whilst their deaths are a tragic loss, they knew the likelihood of this particular outcome the moment they stepped into that room. Now sedate him and return to the main lab, our analysis's of his brain activities during the incident are already producing several possible chemical combinations we can use to neutralise any future use of Psionic abilities in both him and Subject 6."

The doctor produced a needle and took a step towards me, I had no intention of being sedated at this time so I turned my head and tried to use the most threatening voice I could; "I just killed 2 of your colleagues using only my mind, you try and sedate me and you'll join them…"

The doctor paused before placing the needle back in his jacket and leaving the room.


	14. A Potential Cure

**A Potential Cure?:**

After the doctor had scurried away I was left alone although I now had the company of the machines again and their repetitive and monotonous beeping soon started to annoy me. Upon deciding a better use of my time would be to try and understand what would happen I shut my eyes and tried to find the closest mind to me and from there I tried to listen in on its thoughts. Of course I didn't focus too hard in case I inadvertently killed another person.

Hours went by and I was still sitting in silence but then I made a breakthrough;

'It's been quiet in there for far too long. Although I'm not going to go in and check on him unless ordered, not after what that freak did to those 2 poor bastards.'

From what I was picking up it sounded as though there was at least one guard outside my room, I shut my eyes and continued my eavesdropping;

'Although I'm surprised he lasted as long as he had, some of those Erasers went off the wall the moment they came around from the graft. As for the other Avian-hybrid, well I don't think their endings were any happier…'

There were other hybrids in here! But this only presented me with another question; why hadn't I seen any? I remembered that during my graft I had heard other subjects mentioned but to date the only other people I'd seen around here where the doctors, guards and Erasers. I could make an educated guess as to what had happened to the other hybrids going from what I'd gotten from the guard but I hoped against hope that at least some of them were still alive.

'Maybe they'd be better off dead though, who knows what else Itex may have done to them.'

Just as I was about to try and find a second mind to listen in on the door to my room was opened and I saw that there had been only one guard at my door. A doctor walked in followed by Mike whose arm seemed to be healed, the doctor walked over to me whilst Mike stuck several more sensors on my head. I still didn't want to be sedated so I tried my earlier tactic a second time;

"Did you not hear me the first time? I could kill you without moving a finger! Put that fucking needle away."

There was a loud laugh from behind me as Mike came into my field of view; "You can do what you like you little prick, after you've had this injection you won't be doing squat with that little fucked mind of yours. Oh and just in case you thought your little brain training exercises had been going unnoticed over the past few days, well let's just say you've only helped speed up the process of synthesising this inhibitor."

I was shocked to learn that several days had passed, it felt like only a fraction of that time had passed for me but I guess when you're messing around with minds any concept of time goes out the window. The doctor now looking much more confident walked forward and plunged the needle into my IV, luckily this one didn't seem to induce any sedative affects nor did it induce any excruciating pain, there was just a brief stinging sensation and then the needle was removed. After the injection I was unstrapped and guided back to my room, once back in familiar surroundings I sat down on the floor and tried to listen for the voice of Subject 6; there was of course no response.

'I've had enough of this shit! Time to escape…..'


	15. The Escape

_Well here it is! After 15 chapters and several thousand words the escape is finally here!! Just in case you were wondering I have planned to continue the story from here and I've got a rough idea of how I'd like the overall plot to finish but in all honesty I don't have the slightest clue as to how many chapters and words it'll be before the conclusion arrives and at present I'm toying with two different endings, maybe I'll wait and see how the mid-section of the story pans out before I make any decisions._

_Please let me know what you've liked and disliked so far and any changes or additions you'd like to see made. I apologise for any glaring plot-holes that may have occurred, I have tried to fill them all in as I go along but one or tow may have slipped though the net._

_Anyway it's been along time coming so please enjoy!!!_

* * *

'Itex. You thought you could break me, you thought that by bringing me here and telling me that everyone I know and care about thinks I dead that I surrender myself to you. You've put me through test after test in the hopes of reducing down to nothing more than a puppet. Well I'm sorry to say that you've failed miserably and now my dear Itex…..I'm breaking free.'

I was sat in the middle of my floor meditating trying to listen for the voice I'd been hearing for the past few weeks and then like clockwork there was the sound of my door unlocking and in walked the usual doctor flanked by 2 guards, he placed the usual sorry excuse of a meal down on my desk and turned to walk out, today though things were going to play out slightly differently.

As he reached the door I stood up and walked up behind him, I punched him at the base of his skull and he was unconscious instantly, I walked out into the corridor and grabbed the arm of the left guard I flung him round and slammed him into the right one, they both collapsed onto the floor and I crouched down in front of them;

"So sorry gentlemen but I'm afraid to say that I've grown tired of this place, would be so kind as to tell me the way to the nearest exit?"

I knew they wouldn't tell me but just by asking the question their minds would think it and sure enough I picked up the thoughts of one of the guards. I cocked my head to the side and smiled;

"Thank-you kindly…"

2 punches to their lower jaws and they were unconscious, within seconds of me standing up the alarms were sounding.

'Now it gets interesting…'

I started to play out the route that I'd pilfered from the guards mind;

'Straight down the corridor…3rd left then immediate right…'

As I rounded the corner several people came rushing up the corridor to confront me;

"I didn't think they'd be sending erasers out so soon?"

The lead guy was already shifting as he snarled back;

"They've asked to have back alive, I guess as long as your still breathing it counts as alive."

I just laughed at the group of 6 eraser; "What and you think you can actually stop me? I do pity you're infinitesimally small minds sometimes."

That must've pissed them all off as no sooner had I finished speaking they all rushed me, claws were flying towards me, I just dropped my weight back and before they got within striking distance I dropped down to sweep out the legs of the leading guy, he tripped and fell to the floor with and almighty fud, I carried on spinning round and then as I was ¾'s of the way round I started to rise and brought my trailing hand forward, I landed my Rising Uppercut into the jaw of the second eraser and as I was airborne I raised both legs so that I ended up in a Flying Side Kick, the 3rd eraser felt the full force of body impact a tiny square in his chest, as he fell back I grabbed his shoulders and launched myself forward into the 4th eraser, I grabbed him by the chest and we both crashed into the floor. I was able to use the eraser below me as a cushion and from there I shoulder rolled forward and jumped to my feet;

'4 down and 2 to go…'

I knew I had to dispatch the next 2 erasers quickly as the other 4 would be back on their feet in mere seconds. I raced towards them and when I was close enough I dropped down and slid between the legs of the first one, I brought myself back to standing and I was now in between the 2 of them, an Elbow to the back of the 1st one's head and he was down, then I brought that same arm forward and ploughed it into the stomach of the 2nd one, he stumbled back clutching his stomach in pain, no wanting to waste any more time I brought my leg up and slammed and Axe kick into his head and he too was then down for the count; I'd taken care of the 6 of them in less than a minute.

I resumed my course and seconds later I arrived at a lift, using the code I'm nabbed from the guard I was able to gain access, the doors slide open and I dived inside just in time to dodge several electrodes fired from a group of Tasers. The metal barbs ricocheted off the metal and sent sparks flying everywhere; I reached up and pressed the button for the second highest floor. The doors slide shut and as the lift rose the barbs were snapped off their wires, realising the potential use for several sharp metal spikes I gathered them up and put them in my pocket, as the lift rose I looked up to try and find and emergency access panel, finally I saw a faint outline around one of the lights. I crouched down and put several powerful strokes of my wings down and I burst through the opening, on the roof of the lift I could see the destination rapidly approaching, as the lift slowed I looked down and saw several flash bang grenades thrown in, then seconds later as I climbed up the metal cable to the final floor I could hear shouting and questions being asked, they finally put 2 and 2 together and realised what I'd done but by that time I'd already forced the doors open and was running through the corridors of the uppermost level.

Every so often I run under a skylight and feel the warmth of the sun shine down on me;

'I'm so close…'

I rounded a corner to see something I hadn't picked up in the guards mind, a huge metal door sliding down to seal me in;

"Shit! That's not supposed to be there!"

I doubled back and as I ran past the lift I saw several more erasers and guards emerge and give chase, things were quickly going bad and I didn't have a plan on what to do next. I was showered by a hail of sparks as several barbs from the guards Tasers got caught in some metal piping, this snapped my focus onto the situation and my mind tried to frantically formulate a solution.

'The skylights are too small for me to fit through and I can't see any windows…come on Jax think, THINK! Shit!'

I'd dashed round a corner and come face-to-face with Amy, she had already shifted and was now baring down on me; I raised my guard and prepared for a fight.

Literally milliseconds before Amy reached me the door to our left blew open; the door slammed into Amy and flung her against the wall as if she were a child's rag-doll. I lowered my hands from my face and was greeted by a sight I'd never expected to see; 2 other people with wings, one female with brown/blonde hair looking to be no more than 17 or 18 and a guy with dirty blonde hair and pale grey eyes.

"Bloody hell Iggy what was in that thing?"  
"You said you needed a strong one so don't complain Max!"

I stood there in astonishment and then then the girl I assumed was Max turned to me and shouted;

"Jax?"

I didn't really know what to say so I just nodded and she motioned behind her; "Come on, she'll be back her feet in a minute."

Having no other viable plan I followed my 2 rescuers through the hole in the wall, we ran for no more than a minute before we came to an air conditioning shaft, both of them climbed in it and I quickly followed suit. We crawled through darkness for a good few minutes before emerging into a second lift shaft, the alarms were still wailing and a lift was coming up from below; once it was close enough the 3 of us jumped on let the lift carry us up. When it finally stopped the door above us was already open and Max and Iggy jumped up and climbed through, we were now in an access or janitor corridor and to our left there was a metal staircase that led up to another open door, I followed the 2 of them up and out onto a roof.

"Jesus Christ we're in London!"

Then I turned around and saw a 3rd hybrid with short curly blonde hair and pure white wings;

"You got him!"  
"No time to talk Angel. Up and away let's go!"

Max called out to the new hybrid as she dived off the building, snapped open her tan wings before rising up above the roof and flew off. The other 2 quickly followed;

'Right Jax, you knew you'd have to do this sooner or later so why not now?'

I took a deep breath and ran towards the edge of the building, I dove off and felt eh wind rush through my hair as I plummeted down I unfurled my wings and felt them catch the wind, focusing on not falling out the sky I started to put powerful strokes down and soon I was airborne and flying!

I was completely outclassed by the other 3 who looked to be naturals but I did my best to keep up, I looked behind me and surprisingly the only person on the roof was James and rather than looking surprised he was calm and collected; almost as if he expected this to happen. Regardless I pressed on and after half an hour flying we landed in small wooded area, from there we walked for several minutes before eventually arriving at a blue Ford Transit van, Max opened the door and motioned for me to get in, as I climbed in she slammed the door shut and I felt a needle plunged into my neck;

"Oh you've got to be fucking…"

I was unconscious before I could finish my sentence but hopefully I would wake up in a better place than the one I'd just left or perhaps these new hybrids worked for Itex and I'd wind up back in my box, only time would tell.


	16. Meet The Flock

"Everyone quickly, he's starting to wake up."

My eyes slowly opened and at first they had no focus so the only sight I was greeted by was a huge blur of colours and lights, then slowly as my mind began to wake up my surroundings started to come into focus.

The first thing I noticed to my utter relief was that I wasn't back in the Itex facility, there were no restaints, there was no smell of chemical cleanliness and best of all there were no fucking doctors or machines hooked up to me. What there was, was the young girl who'd greeted me on the roof of Itex and next to her was the girl I remember being called Max. Also for the first time in ages I was actually lying on a proper bed and for it was worth, it felt really good.

"I'm sorry about the sedative but it was a necessary step to ensure that we could check you weren't bugged." Max had stepped forwards and started to talk.  
"Check I wasn't bugged? Can I ask how to 'checked'?"

Max took a step back and then a man started to talk;  
"It's a pretty simple procedure, we have a variety of equipment that can detect a whole array of radio signals or any other signal Itex could be employing to track you. After the sweeps I'm sure you'll be glad to know that we found nothing on you."

I sat up and looked across to them man who'd just spoken, he looked to be in his mid-40's and had hair that was already in the late stages of turning grey, his face had look that seemed to hide a deep pain but at the same time a huge sense of purpose. Whoever this man was, I got the feeling his past was something that haunted him terribly but that he had good reasons for doing what he did.

"Erm, well I guess it's good that those bastards didn't put anything inside me…..well anything besides the genetic code that's been spliced into me."

There was a quiet laugh that broke out in our little group before the man started to talk again;  
"Jax, since we are in the unusual situation of having a bit of breathing time please allow us to introduce ourselves. My name is Jeb Batchelder, the young lady here is Max, she's the leader of this little flock then there's..."

As Jeb was talking the door to the room burst open and another 3 hybrids all younger than Max came rushing in and started to introduce themselves;  
"Ahhh! I can't believe we've got a new member! I mean I thought we were the only ones who survived the expiration fail-safe. Oh this is soo cool I mean we have to give you a name and then….."  
"Nudge! I'm sorry Jax, allow me to introduce you to Nudge."

Jeb had wrestled the conversation back from the highly excited hybrid. Apart from the wings I'd never have guessed that there was anything different about this young girl, she had very dark brown skin and looked to be about 14 years old with thick curly hair. After Nudge had given me a welcome hug she stepped aside and the two boys who had come in with Nudge came up to say hello.

"This is Iggy, he's the one who helped you escape along with the other 2 here and this is Gazzy. It was these two that concocted the explosive that provided you with your escape route and don't let their youth fool you these two have an unnatural talent when it comes to explosives and blowing stuff up."

As Iggy was saying hello I noticed his eyes were shrouded in misty grey colour;  
"Iggy if you don't mind me asking, what's up with your eyes?"

My question was followed by an awkward silence before Max answered;  
"He's blind, those gits at Itex tried to 'improve' his night-sight but the whole thing backfired and robbed him of his sight all together."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."  
"Don't be, I'm not. It's who I am and I live with it."

Iggy's reply almost took me by surprise, for someone so young and for someone who I'd guessed had been through a hell similar to mine his attitude was very positive. Iggy and Gazzy moved aside and then the final hybrid in the room came up and gave me a hug and then introduced herself.

"It's good to finally meet you Jax, my name's Angel."  
"Excuse me? You said finally meet me, what does that mean?"  
"Well we've been talking to each other for quite some time, although during that time you knew me as Subject 6."  
"Holy hell! You're real!"  
"Well duh!"

There was more laughter and I could tell that this group of people were like family to each other.

"Do you mind if I got up? I really need to stretch my legs and wings."  
"No not all." Jeb seemed surprised at my request so soon after I'd woken up.  
"Ahhh! Does that mean we get to see your wings properly now?" Nudge had gotten up from her chair and came running over to me as she jumped up and down on the spot repeating the question over and over.  
"Don't worry Jax, in time you'll get used to it." I looked across to Max who seemed to be suppressing a smile at my situation.  
"Nudge if you calm down and let my mind finish rebooting I'll go flying with you how's that?"

The room was suddenly filled with a high-pitched scream as Nudge ran round and round before running out the room closely followed by Iggy and Gazzy who were chanting;

"Nudge and Jax, sitting in a tree….."  
"Well Nudge seems to be taken with you."

Jeb disappeared briefly but returned with some fresh clothes for me to put on, they weren't anything fancy, just some old battered camo trousers and a lose fitting baggy black tee with two slits in the back for my wings to fit through. I removed my top and as I did I heard the Max, Angel and Jeb's sharp intake of breath as they saw the various scars that now adorned my chest and arms. I decided to pretend like I didn't hear anything and quickly finished changing. After I was in my new clothes I was led out of my room and outside. Nudge was already there waiting, Max who was standing beside me nodded and Nudge, Iggy and Gazzy all turned and did a running take off, she then turned to me;

"Well Jax I guess this means you're part of the flock now."


	17. The Flock Has Fangs

As I flew with the flock there was something almost primal that took over and after several hairy moments of me thinking things through too much and almost falling out the sky I was flying far better than I ever had at Itex.

As we flew I started to lose track of time but soon enough we were descending back to the building were I'd woken up earlier. When we landed Jeb was already waiting outside and the van I'd been bundled into earlier was nearby with its engine running.

"We need to move, we've been here too long already."

The flock let out a combined sigh but they quickly composed themselves and took off, something told me this was routine for them. As the flock got airborne I readied myself to follow but just before I could start my run Jeb called me;

"At the moment you'll only slow them down, in the van with me till your flying improves."

Even though I wanted nothing more than to run and fly I could see the logic in what Jeb had said so reluctantly I furled my wings in tight against my back and got in the van.

"So Jeb, how do you fit in with the whole 'flock' thing?"  
"That Jax is a long and complicated story and even this journey isn't long enough to explain it all. However I can give you a condensed version….."

Over the next few hours Jeb filled me in on how he and Max's mum had given DNA samples to Itex so that they could create Max, he also filled me in on the countless times Itex took genetically unique new-born babies and either faked their deaths or paid their parents so that they could take them away to a place called the school where they could monitor the development of the changes they'd made to each child in the womb. He also told me about how he'd lost his soon Ari to the first generation Eraser program and that all the time he was trying to help Max fulfil her purpose in life, although exactly what this purpose was, was something Jeb kept close to his chest. Eventually he got to the part where he detailed the apparent destruction of Itex and his hopes for the flocks freedom, well freedom from being chased, he kept bringing everything back to Max's destiny.

"So you see Jax, when Angel made contact with you and discovered that Itex was back we had to leave America and make our back to Europe. If Itex truly have returned then we should find something at their old Headquarters."  
"Jeb you kept referring back to Max and her destiny but from what I gathered whilst being held by Itex it was Angel they were more interested in."  
"The old Itex were a twisted group of individuals trying to accelerate the next stage of human evolution and in that sense yes Angel is the important one as her natural mutations are by the most extensive and powerful. However it's Max that has a role in the bigger picture, sadly only she can work out what that picture is and I can only guide her."  
"So these places you guys stay at, how do you afford them?"  
"In short…we don't. Since Itex was an umbrella corporation there were some of its more legitimate branches that weren't immediately impacted by their apparent collapse. I've kept old addresses and contacts alive on the old system so that the buildings don't get re-acquired, to anyone doing nay digging they're all still owned by Itex and should anyone try and make contact then their attempts get tied up in systems that don't exist and lead to no-one. Unfortunetly that also means that if Itex are truly back and using any old systems they have the exact location of where we are at, of course the timings are unknown to them hence our checks when you first arrived but a precaution I've set down is one night in anyone building."

We carried on driving till we were by the coast, we turned off the main road and 5 minutes later we arrived at a house that was practically falling off the cliff edge. Jeb pulled up and turned the van around (I assumed in case we had to make a quick exit), then he switched then engine off and headed inside.

"Jeb, you can't be serious! This place is derelict!"  
"Stay out here if you want Jax but there's a storm approaching and it's better than nothing."

I stepped out the van and let my wings stretch out and as I looked out over the sea I could see lightning and black clouds approaching accompanied by the occasional rumble of thunder. As Jeb and I were preparing the place for the flocks arrival I heard a noise outside;

"Jeb!"  
"What is it?"  
"There was a noise outside, stay low and out of sight. I'm going to see what it was."

I crouched down and headed to the back door, before I left I saw Jeb pull a gun out from one of his bags and crouch down next to the front door. I opened the door as carefully as I could and made my way round to the front of the building. I knelt down by a corner and peered round to see who or what was there and to my astonishment I saw another hybrid and I wrongly assumed it was one of the flock.

"Hey where's the rest of the flock?"

The hybrid spun round and I quickly realised it wasn't who I had initially thought it was.

"Who are you?"  
"Who am I? Who the hell are you and how do you know about this safe house? Where's the rest of the flock?" The hybrid clearly had knowledge of Itex and its workings otherwise he wouldn't have used the words safe house or mentioned the safe.

I decided that in this case silence was the best policy although this only seemed to aggravate him.

"Fine if you won't talk now, maybe I can beat the answers out of you."

Within seconds he had closed the gap between us and landed an uppercut to my lower jaw, the force behind it almost made me think it was a new Eraser with wings but my thought soon left my head when I returned to the ground with a bang. I lay there dazed and then the hybrid grabbed my leg and spun me round before throwing me into the wall, my legs gave way and I slumped to the floor, this guy was definitely something else. I lifted my head and saw the hybrid rushing up to attack again, he threw a punch as he reached me but I was able to grab his fist and prevent the attack landing.

The storm had arrived and the rain started to pummel down on us and every so often the sky would be torn by lightning.

I pushed him back and clambered to my feet, I then ran forward and threw an uppercut of my own as my punch connected I unclenched my fist and grabbed his neck, then just like he had done to me I spun him round and threw him to the ground. I ran towards him to follow up the attack but his range surprised me and he was able to sweep my legs out from underneath me, I crashed to the ground and my momentum carried me through the now muddy ground. I rolled over and seconds later there was a sharp pain in my stomach as he kicked my across the ground, I tumbled across the cliff edge and came to a rest near the side of the cliff. I managed to catch my breath quick enough and catch him as he came rushing towards me again, I grabbed his fists and used his own momentum against him coupled with my movement to send him tumbling over the edge.

I stood up and walked back to the house and then I realised I'd made a serious over-sight;

'Oh shit, he has wings'

Then almost as if on cue he came rushing up behind me and tackled me to the floor, he pinned me down and started to throw punch after punch at me. I couldn't understand how he was so easily outclassing me;

"Holy shit Fang! Let Jax go!"

Max and the rest of the flock had arrived and Max was running over to the 2 of us.

"Max you know this guy?"  
"Yes I do, he was a hybrid being held by Itex."  
"What and you've just let him in the flock like that?"  
"Jeb checked him out and he's clean. Besides don't act all high and mighty, where the hell have you been? You leave a message saying you'll see me again in 20 years yet here you are months later."  
"I had heard that Itex might be back and no matter how hard you try you can't be invisible, if they're back then we need the flock to be at maximum strength."  
"Fang…..I don't know what to say….."

Fang relinquished his grip and clambered to my feet gasping for breath. The rest of the flock guided me into the building, once inside Jeb had already got a First Aid kit out and gave me some stuff to clean and sterilize my cuts.

"Anyone care to enlighten me who that was?"

This time Iggy answered my question;

"He's called Fang, he used to be Max's second in command and the 2 of them had a thing for each other. Then a few months back he just upped and left leaving Max a message, however if he's back then he must think that Itex is a credible threat."  
"What so we just let the 2 of them stay out there and argue?"  
"Jax at this point it wouldn't make any difference if we did anything, it's best to just let them talk. For now let's try and rest and grab some food."


	18. A Vision of Things to Come?

Food sounded like a good idea so after we were inside I headed over to see if any of the appliances would work but I had no luck. As I tried the cooker for the third time I heard laughter behind me, I turned around to see that Jeb had produced a portable camping stove and Iggy was already busy preparing some vegetables and rice. Before I could even ask how he was able to cook being blind Gazzy spoke up and said that even though Iggy was indeed blind he was the most amazing cook ever and half an hour later I could see why, the food was incredible. After we'd finished our meals Jeb stood up and walked over to one of the many rucksacks he'd brought in from the van, he came back to our little circle carrying several tubes of fluorescent green paste;

"Oh Jeb you know we hate the slime." Nudge protested as Jeb was handing the tubes to each of us.

I took the tube from Jeb and took the cap off and I could instantly see why Nudge was complaining, the stuff smelt absolutely foul.

"Jeb, no offense man but what in God's name is this stuff?"

Jeb sighed a sigh that told me he was tired of explaining what this paste was and the reasons it was important to us; "To be as simple as possible Jax the food you've just eaten won't even scratch the surface for your nutritional requirements, being hybrids means that your very basic biology has been altered and you all now have far higher calorie, vitamin and nutrient requirements. This paste has been put together to ensure that you all get what you need to stay at 100% as sadly we don't have the resources to buy the amount of food you'd all need to eat to meet those requirements."  
"Well that sounds reasonable enough but why is it bright green and why can't you flavour it with something?"  
"The green was a surprise Gazzy and Iggy put in the last batch I made and unfortunately I didn't discover that until I had finished preparing it and as I'm sure you heard earlier its earned this stuff the rather appetising name of 'slime'. The lack of flavour is much easier to explain, no-one can agree what to flavour it with so until they all reach an agreement it stays unflavoured."

Jeb's explanation did indeed sound reasonable and logical especially if he was operating on a shoe string budget. I took the cap off and pinched my nose before squeezing the tube into my mouth and even with my nose blocking out most of the taste I still nearly heaved when I swallowed it, much to the amusement of Gazzy, Iggy, Nudge and Angel. With my introduction to the paste over I headed upstairs to see if any furniture was left that could suffice for a bed, after numerous empty rooms I came across and old wooden wardrobe;

'Well it's better than the floor.'

I grabbed the wardrobe and tipped it over, it crashed to the floor with a huge bang and within seconds everyone from downstairs was in the room ready to fight.

"Whoa guys calm down! I'm sorry I didn't meant to scare you."  
"Jax what are you doing?" Nudge was looking at the downed wardrobe with an utterly confused face.  
"This Nudge is a make-shift bed and it beats the hell out of sleeping on the floor."  
"Gaz, why didn't you ever think of something like this?" Nudge hit Gazzy in the arm and carried on complaining about all the times they'd slept in houses with wardrobes but he'd never once thought to tip one over.

"Look if you 4 want to sleep in here then go ahead."

All 4 hybrids looked over joyed and ran to grab their sleeping bags, when the room was empty Jeb looked at me and smiled.

"That was very kind Jax."  
"Well let's face it Jeb, if I hadn't done anything we'd have had Nudge complaining and aggravating Gazzy all night."  
"Ha, true Jax, very true. You can use my sleeping bag tonight, I'll grab the spare from the van a bit later."

I walked downstairs to grab the bag and as I walked past the door I opened it slightly to check on Max and Fang but they'd disappeared. I trusted what I'd been told earlier and assumed that Max at least would be back when we woke up tomorrow. I returned to the temporary bedroom to see that Nudge and Angel were already building their own little nest in one half of the wardrobe while Gazzy and Iggy had gone for the more practical top-and-tail approach, I headed over to the corner and got in the sleeping bag, I took off my tee and folded it over to make a basic pillow before trying to get some sleep. I drifted off relatively quickly but tonight sleep would only open the door to more questions and concerns.

As I slept, I started to dream but this wasn't like any dream I'd had before in my life, it felt real, really real. I was in a forest and everywhere was engulfed in flames, behind me the flock was lying on the ground unconscious and standing before me was a being engulfed in darkness, however from his silhouette I could work out 2 things; 1. They had wings and 2. They had the forearms of an Eraser 3.0. As I stood there the dream felt it was becoming reality as I could feel the inferno all around me and I could feel the power emanating from who or whatever was standing before me. I tried to run and attack them but as I got within striking distance I was flung aside by some unseen force, whoever this person was they clearly had Psionic abilities at their disposal as well. After I'd got back to my feet I was suddenly overwhelmed with an intense feeling of pain, it felt as if my head was being crushed in a vice and I was soon on my knees clutching at my head and screaming for the pain to stop. I looked up and saw the being walking slowly towards me, but now as he walked I could see rocks and trees levitating around them and then breaking down to ash, this was someone with an incredible level of skill in Psionic manipulation and attack. When they reached me they knelt down and put a hand on either side of my forehead;

'Jax, no matter where you go, no matter who you ally with I will hunt you down and correct their mistake!'

Their voice was in my head, it was grinding me down and all the while I could feel the pain increasing, I wasn't sure how much more I could take.

My eyes snapped open back in the bedroom but the pain didn't leave; I'd rushed to my feet but had instantly been brought back to my knees by the pain. All around me the room was shaking and Nudge, Gazzy, Angel and Iggy had run to fetch Jeb, he came in carrying a syringe saying this'll alleviate the pain and help me sleep.

"No! Jeb please stay away! Gyahhh!"

I raised my left hand as if I was reaching out to some invisible object, as my arm drew level a tingling sensation travelled down it starting from my shoulder, when it reached my hand it carried on traveling forward and out into the air just in front of my palm, it remained there for a few seconds and then the air began to twist and warp; like heat haze you'd see above the road on a really hot summers day. There was a huge surge in the pain I was experiencing and that coincided with the moment the ball/orb of 'energy' in my palm rocketed forward and obliterated the wardrobe, there was a huge crack and the room was filled with an explosion of splinters. The pain disappeared and I collapsed, Jeb came running over and injected me with whatever was in the syringe he had, I could feel the warmth of unconsciousness reaching out to me and I gladly let it take me.


	19. Vital Info

When I came round there was light streaming through the window and Jeb was sitting in a chair across the room from me.

"Heya Jeb." My voice was really weak and shaky although luckily the room was so quiet that it was the only noise to be heard.

Jeb got up and walked over to another one of his seemingly limitless supply of bags and had a rummage around, he found what he was looking for and walked over to me. Kneeling down beside me he took the top half of a machine he was holding off and placed it on my chest and then on my head, he returned it to the half he was holding and then after a minute of silence the machine beeped and Jeb spoke;

"You certainly scared the 4 young ones last night. Luckily it was more of a shock than anything else, they're made of tough stuff and are fine now, you though I'm slightly concerned about."  
"How so?"  
"Jax what happened last night, has it ever happened before?"  
"There one time at Itex."  
"That's what I thought. What you experienced last night was to do with a process called Psionic Manipulation, in its most basic form you can think of this as telekinesis but with the right mind and training it can become something totally different. Angel has a natural ability at Psionic Manipulation and Communication and it seems you have basic abilities in communication and R.W.I or Real World Interaction otherwise Angle wouldn't have been able to communicate with you in Itex and last night wouldn't have happened. What's concerning me about you is that last night seemed to take you by surprise and judging by your screams before you woke up I'd guess it was painful, Angel's Psionic development has been pretty smooth and to date there's been nothing like what happened to you."  
"You sound concerned Jeb, I thought you were supposed to have answers to all stuff Itex."  
"Well yes I am concerned, I don't know why you're Pis abilities are progressing so violently and I have no idea what the side effects on your mind will be…"

Jeb was cut short by a phone ringing, Jeb returned to the chair he'd been in and picked up and chunky satellite phone, the conversation was over in under 30 seconds and then Jeb came back over to me.

"That was a contact who can get info on Itex from time to time. He's given me an address to go to where he's dropped a cache of information….it's your file."  
"I have a file?"  
"It seems so and if what he said is true you were a pretty big project for Itex."  
"I need to get that info Jeb."

I sat up and then got to my feet, I felt light headed initially but the feeling soon passed. Jeb insisted that I stay and let him but I refused and said that I had to do this, after some initial reluctance he relented and agreed to let me go, on one condition; he gave me a phone and said I was to call him once I had the info, he'd then tell me where to meet back-up with the flock. I took the phone and the address of where the drop would be and headed outside, once I was out the house I was greeted by Max;

"I heard what happened last night, you ok?"  
"Yeah I'm good now. Jeb gave me some info I need to act on so I'm taking off for a little while. Where's Fang?"  
"He's gone again, he said he'd be back in a few days but had some stuff to sort out before he could re-join the flock. Jax, I need to ask you something; are you going to be able to control yourself and make sure last night isn't repeated? I need everyone at the top of their game if Itex really is making a comeback."  
"Well that's what this info will tell me, I'll see you in a while Max."

I ran and dived over the cliff edge and snapped open my black wings, I reached for the phone Jeb got me and opened its GPS tool and within seconds I had a route to follow. About an hour later I saw the town below, I flew over it and out into the country to try and land with minimal visibility. I managed to negotiate landing in lightly wooded area and from there followed the roads and the GPS to where the drop was.

Another 20 minutes passed before I reached the station and the locker where my file was supposed to be, standing in the station foyer I looked for the bin where the key was to be hidden, it was a simple matter of looking underneath it and then opening the locker. Sure enough when the door opened there was a folder labelled;

Subject 13  
-Highly Classified—

"You didn't really think we'd let your file out that easily did you?"

I spun round to see Amy standing behind me;  
"Amy!"  
"Don't try and run Jax, we have numerous Erasers in the station and the surrounding area."  
"We'll see…HELP! Help someone please!"

My sudden shouting worked just as I had hoped, people stopped and stared across at Amy and myself, Amy looked quickly around to assess the situation and that was when I made my move. I punched her in the stomach with all my strength and then swept her legs out from under her, after that I turned and ran making sure to grab the file as I left. I vaulted over the ticket barriers with a little help from my wings and out onto the platforms, now I had several Erasers and Transport Police chasing me down the platform, as I ran Amy stepped out in front of me so I pulled a sharp turn to my right and with a powerful downward stroke from my pitch black wings launched myself over the rails and onto the adjacent platform, I looked over to where I'd just been only to see Amy take a running jump and clear the gap just as easily.

'Shit! I forgot how good she was!' I ran down this new platform and as I approached some stairs to return to the station I put another stroke down from my wings and landed on the upper hallway. I was now running at full speed and saw that I had Amy and two other Erasers chasing me, I burst through 2 police that had tried to grab and back over the foyer ticket barriers, I landed in a shoulder roll and was back on my feet and out the doors just as Amy cleared the barriers. Now I was outside I had the advantage, I unfurled my wings and tried to get some distance between me and the ground but as I got level with the roof and Eraser jumped up and grabbed me, I rocketed back to the ground but fortunately my fall was broken by the Eraser who'd plucked me out the sky. I got back to my feet and I was now surrounded by 4 Erasers, no surprise that the police had stayed back.

They rushed me and I dropped to the floor into a spinning footsweep, Amy jumped back to avoid it but the other 3 fell, using the momentum of my spin I came back up and launched forward tackling Amy to the ground, as she fell I brought my legs up to her chest and pushed off her flipping backwards and landing back where I started. 2 Erasers had now morphed and were coming at me from either side;

'Let's hope this works…'

The time seemed right to test an idea I'd been toying with, I snapped my wings open as fast as I could managed to hit both Erasers with enough force to knock them down, I quickly furled my wings back up against my back and then ran off into the city. I tried to make as many turns as I could but several minutes later Amy was breathing down my neck again and she two had now morphed and gained the boost in speed that came with it, I collided with a group of people as I ran out into the high street and when I got back to my feet with my guard up ready for a fight Amy had vanished. I looked around expecting a surprise attack but nothing came;

'Where've you gone Amy?'

Several more minutes passed but still nothing, not wanting to push my luck any longer I ran out of town on one of the smaller roads. As I ran I passed a park and decided that I'd put down enough distance to stop. I walked in and made sure that I kept my wings as tightly folded against my back, I soon found an empty bench and sat down to read my folder.

'Subject 13  
Previous Designation; Jax  
Purpose of Subject Acquisition; DNA samples received from information network suggest subject has genetic sequences that make him a suitable subject for the Subject 6 line of experimentation.

Subject Documentation;  
-Subject 13 has been secured and is now in the holding room after an initial confrontational stage he has now been fully sedated. Initial hypothesises have all been confirmed and the labs are now being prepped for the grafting.

-The graft proceeded as expected, the deaths of subjects 19 and 26 were appropriate to necessitate the success of the procedure. After the graft the subject was left in isolation where we observed an ability to utilise basic function of the new wings at a rate far higher than previously expected.

-The early combat tests are yielding positive results for both Subject 13 and the Eraser 3.0 project, however over eagerness of initial Eraser subjects to shift despite orders to the contrary needs to be addressed.

-Subject 13 has successfully attained flight with his wings. SIDE NOTE: His attitude still needs resolving.

-URGENT ENTRY-LEAD PSYCHRIATRIST: Subejct 13 is showing signs of developing Schizophrenia, currently symptoms are passive and not observable to the subject but there are alight behavioural changes and chemistry changes that suggest a major psychotic breakdown is possible. Project lead has been informed but a decision has yet to be made.

-URGENT ENTRY-GENERAL: Subject 13 experienced a catastrophic breakdown with reality according to the projects Lead Psychiatrist however in the moments leading up to the breakdown the subjects Psionic readings surpassed anything ever recorded from Subject 6. During the breakdown the readings fluctuated widely before total and utter machine failure. Breakdown stopped suddenly and unexpectedly, this needs further investigation. The death of 2 doctors whilst unpleasant has yielded highly valuable data, cover stories are already being fed to the next of kin.

-Following the data gleamed from Subject 13's breakdown several potential compounds have been developed to combat Psionic abilities, the first batch proved fatal upon injection whilst the second induced comas within minutes. A third compound is being synthesized and computational analysis continues on the data for other potential compounds.

-URGENT ENTRY-PRIORITY Ω:Subject 13 has escaped, whilst Dr. Harlow insists this was inevitable the timing was not desirable nor was appropriate. During escape internal cameras picked up footage of the flock, this leads to a hypothesis that Subject 6 was in communication via Psionic means during Subject 13's stay at Itex. Working from this hypothesis all follow up actions to recapture both Subject 6 and Subject 13 have been given highest priority and resource allocation.'

There were pages and pages of reports and data all on me and my development, after I finished reading the file I put it down on the bench next to me and just sat there in silence.

'What the fuck do I do now?'

The sun was now starting to set, still not knowing what to do I got up and walked aimlessly out of the park and over to a bridge crossing a river. I stood there watching the sunset and the day turn ever so slowly into night.

"You here thinking to?"

I jumped and looked to my left to see that I'd now been joined by a guy in his early 20's, he was about 1.8m tall and had black hair that covered most of his face;

"Someone's jumpy. What you doing up here?"  
"Me, I'm just trying to piece my life back together."  
"Well you've picked a nice place to do it; this is where I come to think things through when I feel a bit lost. Oh and I'm Matty by the way."  
"Nice to meet you Matty, I'm Jax."

A phone went off and Matty reached into his pocket to check what it was;

"Ha, do you believe this?"

He handed me his phone to show me a text from one of his friends;

'You gotta check the news when you get home, that bird-man I said I saw at the station is on it! I'm sending you a pic!'

"I swear she's having me on with this."  
"You never know."

There was a second text and Matty opened it, my heart was racing and I was hoping that he wouldn't identify me straight away from it.

"This has to be a Photoshop job, there's no way this can be real."

I was trying to think of something to say to steer the conversation in a different direction when my phone went off, Jeb had sent me a message with some co-ordinates in for the GPS.

Matty's phone went off for a third time and this time it had a video in the message, the footage was a snippet of my fight outside the station. While standing there with Matty talking to him about this apparent bird-man that was in actuality me I started to feel more normal than I had in ages, it was like I had my old life back but the wings on my back would testify that I didn't'.

"Listen Matty I'm going to have to dash, maybe I'll see you around again some time."  
"That would be pretty good, hoe you sort things out."  
"I hope so too."

I turned and walked off down the bridge, once I was out of town back where I landed I took off and headed to the position marked on my phone.


	20. Combat 101

**Combat 101:**

I landed at the location marked and at first I was sure I had the place wrong, either that or the GPS had fucked up. I tried to look around through the darkness but there was nothing that gave away where I was, the feeling of the ground underneath me suggested that I was in a field.

"Welcome back Jax, sorry about the slight course change but we can't risk you being followed to a safe house."

Jeb had come up behind me and nearly got himself punched by making me jump. After I'd calmed down we headed back to the van;

"Jeb, I'll drive you point the way. I think you'll want to read this as soon as possible."

I produced my file and the Jeb gave me the keys to the van, I climbed in and spent a good 5 minutes trying to get in a driving position where I could drive and where my wings sat in an ok position on the seat, finally I got comfy and drove off. When we arrived back at the safe house Max was waiting outside for us with Angel;

"Jax what the hell happened today!"  
"Hi Max, I'm fine thanks for asking and if you must know the drop was a trap."

I turned to Jeb who still had his head buried in my file;

"Your network has been compromised, how much do your supposed friends know about our movements?"

He peered up from the file;

"They know nothing. I took a risk by getting back in touch with my sources and despite today's events the risks and events seem to have been worth the reward."

The 4 of us walked in the house and Iggy passed me a plate of food when I'd sat down; tonight we had rice with vegetables again although today it looks like some sort of meat had been added and a basic sauce made, after the food had been eaten it was time for the slime again which still made me feel like throwing up all over the place. I decided that after last night it would be a good idea if I slept alone so I grabbed my sleeping bag and headed off into one of the empty rooms, as I tried to get to sleep my mind kept going over what I read in my file; had Itex really intended for me to be a means to recapture Angel or was there something more to it? Regardless of what they had intended they had stolen my life and I was going to make every last one of they pay for what they'd done.

Thankfully the night passed without events and when I woke up there was a newspaper next to, it was a copy of the Telegraph and on the front page was an image taken from the some CCTV with the headline; Elaborate Hoax or Angel Visitation?

As I browsed the article there were numerous eye-witness accounts claiming that I was indeed real whilst there were so-called experts refuting the images and videos saying that this was mosy likely some hugely elaborate marketing stunt.

'Bastards. What the hell do they know?'

I screwed up the paper and tossed it across the room; I grabbed my shirt from underneath the sleeping bag and headed downstairs. As I came down the stairs Iggy and Gazzy came running up to me;

"Quickly Jax you need to come outside!"

My heart started to race and I followed the two of them outside. Initially I couldn't understand why they had brought me out the house, the only person out here was Max and there was no sight of anything remotely hostile.

"Max, what's going on?"  
"Jeb filled me in on your file last night. I said you can join the flock and I mean what I say, however if you are going to be a part of the flock you need to be able to pull your own weight so against Jeb's wishes to stay mobile daily we're staying here an extra day and you're going to get a crash course in combat…..Max style."

A smirk crossed her face and I realised that the remains of the flock had now come outside and were sitting in front of the house. I took this as a kind gesture from Max but didn't want to come across too submissive or weak;

"You assume you can beat me Max, did you not see what I did yesterday?"  
"Please Jax, that was childs play compared to what we're capable of."  
"Fine then, let's get this started."  
"Can't believe you're so eager to get your ass kicked."  
"Heh, we'll see Max, we'll see."

After my last remark Max unfurled her wings and within seconds she'd reached me, I dropped my weight onto my back foot and slide backwards to avoid her initial attack, I was about to launch a counter attack but Max recovered from my dodge far quicker than I'd seen anyone before and with a well-placed Round Kick I was sent tumbling along the ground. I got back to my feet only to be put straight back on the defensive, Max was throwing punch after punch with the odd kick thrown in for good measure and no matter how hard I looked I couldn't find a way to go on the offensive, then I saw my opportunity. Max drew back her right hand to ready a punch and as she threw it a threw my left arm forwards and caught her fist in my hand, I tightened my grip on her hand and then swept her legs out, as she fell I brought my sweeping leg up and followed it up into an Axe Kick, again Max surprised me by her quick reactions. Even before she'd hit the floor she'd caught my kick and thrown me over the top of her, we both clambered back to our feet and rushed at each other. As I drew closer I put several strokes from my wings down and launched myself over the top of Max, I landed behind her and did a quick 180 so I was no facing her back, I threw a Side Kick to the back of knee and her leg collapsed, as she fell I brought the leg back up and hooked her neck in behind my knee and pulled back so that she now fell backwards. Whilst still falling Max rolled and brought both her legs so that they were over her head, I knew instantly what was about to happen. She threw her legs forward and both feet hit me in the stomach, I was sent falling and Max used the force the kick to get herself upright again.

"You've got some skill Jax but there's room for improvement."  
"I'm still warming up Max!"

I threw myself forward and caught Max off guard, as she fell I used the same technique I'd used on Amy the day before, I brought my legs up and kicked downwards flipping backwards as Max fell, of course Max soon recovered.

"Ha, that was actually quite a good move, I'll have to remember that."  
"See Max this aint over yet."

We both ran at each other again and this time Max tried to flip over me so I dropped to my side and slid underneath her, as she passed over me I flicked out the wing that was facing skyward and knocked her out of the sky. I got back to my feet and ran at the downed Max, when I got within striking distance I saw my mistake, Max had faked the downing and now I had sprung her trap. She sprang up and knocked me backwards, whilst still airborne she grabbed me in a Scissor Kick and floored me, I rolled onto my front and she grabbed one arm and put it in a lock whilst digging her knee into the middle of wings.

"I win!"

I tried to fight and get free but the more I fought the more she pressed down on my wings and the more I became immobilized.

"Ok, ok! You win….this round."

Max relinquished her grip and helped me up;

"Like I said Jax, you have some skill but you rely too heavily on one or two move attacks, I'm going to teach you how to string moves together so that you can keep attacking someone indefinitely. Everyone up! Come on we could all use the training."

The rest of the flock got up and came running over.


	21. Abduction

The day after my first training session with Max I was sore all over, however on the plus side when we moved to a different safe house I was able to graduate from riding in the van to flying with the rest of the flock.

Soaring high above the earth was magical, invigorating and terrifying all at the same time, each time my wings moved I felt more alive than I ever had before in my life, yet when I looked down and actually realised what I was looking at there was a part of my mind that still couldn't comprehend what was happening and screaming for me to land….I chose to ignore that part. The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful and we soon landed at the last safe house in the UK; tomorrow we were heading into Europe.

Once the van had been unpacked, Iggy set about preparing the food whilst Max and I started to spar. She was still outclassing me but I was slowly beginning to pick up little tips and tricks from her fighting style, but of course it still ended with me getting a beating. As night fell we ate the meal Iggy had prepared which was followed by the slime, after that Iggy and Gazzy went off to work on some new explosive they were toying with, whilst Nudge watched keeping just far enough back to be out of the way should one of their measurements be slightly off. Max had gone off to talk to Jeb and I was left with Angel in the 'lounge' if it could be called that.

"How do you do it Angel? How do you control all the stuff that's going on in your head?"  
"I dunno Jax, that's the honest answer. Stuff just happens and I seem to know what to do and how to do it. I mean it's still scary when a new ability appears out of thin air but at the same time it's exciting. Also don't forget I've been growing up with these powers, you've had yours thrust upon you with little time to adjust to them. Although if it helps I can show how I clear my mind to help me sleep at night?"  
"I'll try anything right now."

Angel then adjusted how she was sitting till she was in the classic meditation posture; legs crossed and arms relaxed on her legs. I tried to mimic what how she was sitting and then she started to guide me in slowing my breathing and thinking of something blank like a white room. So that's what I did, I slowed my breathing and tried to clear my mind of any and all thoughts, soon enough I could feel my whole mind and body relaxing and this had an unexpected but quite useful side effect. It started in my shoulders and then slowly travelled down my arms but I instantly recognised the sensation, it was Psi energy gathering in my arms. I tried to keep my mind calm and control the movements of the energy within my arms. It started with me halting the movement of the energy down my arm, and then I was able to move it back up towards my shoulders. Confident that I had sufficient control over its movements I let the energy travel down to my hands and from there out into my palms. I felt the tingling leave my body and then slowly I saw the air around my palms start to shake and distort, as more and more energy gathered the shimmering grew stronger and stronger and then the whole ball started to glow a very faint blue.

"That's one of the prettiest things I've ever seen!"

Nudge had come back into the room to see what Angel and I were up to, her sudden outburst made me lose control, luckily though rather than shooting off and obliterating a nearby object this time the energy just dissipated into the surrounding air.

"Oh it's gone."  
"Sorry Nudge, I'm still trying to get control over this whole Psi thing."  
"That's ok although I wish I could do something neat like that, all I've got is this nerdish computer power."  
"Computer?"  
"Yeah come and see."

Nudge headed over to her bag and pulled out a laptop, she brought it back over to me and Angel and turned the machine on. Once it had booted up she asked to change the password and then restart the machine, not seeing where this was going I did what I was told and changed the password to; Antidisestablishmentarianism.11235813

I was hoping to be clever and use one of the English languages longest words coupled with the first few numbers of the Fibonacci sequence to make it a bit of a challenge for her. Once the machine had rebooted we were greeted with the password screen and I handed the device back to Nudge, once she had the laptop she placed her hand on the screen which started to flicker and then within seconds the password field was filled and the machine logged on.

"How the hell?"  
"Don't even ask Jax, I haven't got a clue myself."  
"It seems most of the powers you guys have leave you clueless as to how they work."  
"Well as long as they work we don't care." Angel said smiling.

The two girls then got up and walked off leaving me on my own. There was an ever so brief period of silence before all hell broke loose.

The door to the building was blown to pieces and the room I was in was filled with smoke, seconds later I heard a strange metallic rattle along the floor before the whole room was filled with a blinding white light. I staggered around trying to clear my eyes and assess what had just happened, then suddenly I was kicked in the stomach and sent flying backwards across the room, I hit the wall and fell to the floor and then I felt the clawed hand of an Eraser grab me by the neck and lift me up. The building was now filled with screaming and shouting, amongst it all I could make out the flock and Jeb and then there voices which I assumed belonged to the Erasers who were invading. My eyes finally cleared and I was able to see what was happening;

"Holy shit! Amy!"  
"Hello Jax."

By this time the shouting had subsided and I could now hear footsteps coming from various rooms all heading towards us. One by one the flock was led in followed by 2 Erasers with each one carrying a gun, all of us had a look of astonishment on our faces.

"How? How did you find us?"

There was a collective laugh from our captors but to be honest I was just biding time, already I was trying to clear my mind and repeat my earlier feat of gathering Psi energy.

"The old man got lazy….."

Amy maintained her grip on my throat but turned to Jeb to carry on her explaining;

"…..what did you really expect Jeb? You were using Itex assets to survive by, you should've know that sooner or later we'd untangle the mess you were hiding behind."

There was no reply from Jeb but Max decided to voice her opinion on the situation;

"I swear, I will kill you for this! You signed your own death certificate the moment you held a gun my flock!"

There was some shuffling at the door and then two of the Erasers stepped aside, the person standing behind them took the words out of Max's mouth instantly;

"Hello Max."  
"Oh my god! Fang! What have they done to you?"  
"They've opened my eyes Max, we were never going to be able to keep this up forever. Besides they really aren't that bad."

There were tears building in Max's eyes but she tried to fight them back, while all this was going on I was trying to make sense of what was going on with Angel;

'Angel, is that really Fang?'  
'Well yes and no, it is Fang physically but whenever I try and reach his mind I'm being blocked, it's like they've brainwashed him.'  
'Well can't you get passed that?'  
'What do you think I've been doing?'  
'Regardless of what's happened to Fang tell the others to get ready, I'm about to make a move.'  
'Jax, is that really the best option at this point?'  
'Right now Angel it's our only option. Tell the others to blink twice when they're ready.'

I waited a few seconds and then I saw everyone blink twice.

'Show-time.'

I raised one hand so that I was facing Amy and another so that it was facing the Eraser who held Jeb, before Amy could ask what was going on the bolts of Psi energy had sent their targets hurtling backwards.

"Jeb now!"

Jeb spun round and grabbed the gun out of the Erasers hand, several shots were fired and the Eraser staggered backwards. I launched forward and tackled Amy down, during my time away from Itex I had forgotten how strong the women was, after I'd landed on her she punched me up so that I collided with the ceiling. The Erasers holding Max had now both been shot by Jeb but now the element of surprise was gone, the one's holding Nudge, Gazzy, Iggy and Angel were moving towards the door. I saw Iggy produce something from his trouser pocket and then it twigged that it was a basic detonator;

"Surprise douche-bags!"

The room behind us exploded and a fireball engulfed the room, the building was now engulfed in flames and from where I was all I could do was watch as Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge, Angel and Max were taken. I looked around and saw Jeb had been pinned down by some debris that fell from the ceiling after the explosion, the room was becoming an inferno and I was starting to struggle breathing.

"I've been looking forward to this."

I looked across and the room and saw that Fang was still there.

"For fuck sake Fang snap out of it! We need to get Jeb out of here!"  
"The old man made his choice. It's your fault this happened! If you hadn't have made contact with the flock they'd still be running around thinking they were safe but no, you had to come and mess it all up!"

He vaulted the flames and came crashing down on me, he pinned me down and started to merciless beat me. Punch after punch was thrown and I could feel my anger and desperation at the situation grow, as Fang threw another punch I gather what little Psi energy I could and projected it outwards, the field flung Fang back and through the burning ceiling. I gathered some energy in my hands and flung it down beneath me, sure Newton's Laws kicked in and I was flung upwards through the hole onto the second floor. I grabbed Fang and returned the beating, after several punches I used all my strength to throw him across the room, not wanting to let up I quickly followed up the throw hooking my foot under Fang's chest and kicking him upwards, once he was at my torso height I spun round and launched a Tornado Kick into his side, this sent him careering through the ever weakening walls and out onto the ground below.

I jumped back down to the first floor and tried to use my Psionic power to move the debris but my mind was too full of thoughts so I had to move it all by hand, after 30 excruciating seconds I was able to grab Jeb and make my way outside. I lay Jeb down by the van and went to grab Fang, I knelt down by the unconscious hybrid and placed my hands on either side of his forehead.

'Let's see if I can't find the real Fang.'

I shut my eyes and let my mind delve into his. Instantly I could see what Angel had meant there was an unnatural resistance in Fang's mind, I keep up the pressure and soon enough I was through. Once I was past the initial obstacle I still had to try and drag Fang's mind back into the conscious world, which giving what I was finding wouldn't be easy. His mind was full of hate but at the same time and intense love for Max; a love I hypothesised Itex had used in order to manipulate and brainwash Fang with. As I carried on looking I was aware of someone approaching me in the real world.

My eyes snapped open and I grabbed Jeb's wrist but managed to stop short of throwing him over my shoulder.

"Jeb you shouldn't be up, you need to rest."  
"Itex just attacked me and took Max and the rest of the Flock, the brainwashed Fang and tried to kill you, I'm going anywhere till those bastards pay."  
"Well since you're not going to listen to anything I say you might as well help me with Fang."

We both grabbed Fang and put him in the back of the van, the tyres had been shot so we weren't going anywhere in that but it was some basic shelter which is more than could be said for the burning building we had occupied mere hours earlier.

I turned to Jeb to ask what we should do next, however before I could say anything the phone in my pocket went off; I'd been sent a picture.

"They've just changed the rules!"

On the phones screen was a picture of the flock, all of whom were unconscious but in the middle bound to chair holding a sign that said 'Help Me!' was a very conscious and very afraid Emma; my closest and dearest friend.


	22. To Save Many, One Must Die

**To Save Many, One Must Die:**

"Jeb they have Emma! She thinks I'm dead so who the fuck knows what's going through her head right now!"  
"Jax we don't even know where they took them and chances are that picture was taken at a temporary location purely to provoke a response out of us."  
"Well congratulations to them, they've got their sodding response!"

Even though I knew what Jeb said was more than likely correct every part of me was screaming out just get out the van and find Emma.

"What about Fang?"  
"What about him?"  
"He was must've been at an Itex facility, he must have some knowledge of what was going to happen!"  
"Well he's still unconscious so he's no good to anyone at the moment."  
"Er hello! I go into his mind and get what we need before he's even close to waking up."

There was a moment's hesitation from Jeb before he relented and gave me the go ahead to get the info. Several minutes later I had what I needed;

"Hampshire, they're in a town called New Milton in Hampshire and they're operating under an alias called Genetix."  
"Fine we have a location, we still need a plan."  
"A plan, fine how's this; we go in and rescue the flock and Emma and we kill any fucker who's mad enough to get in our way."  
"I mean an actual plan Jax."  
"Fine you work on that I'll work on getting us some transport."

I headed out and took off. I didn't intend to go far from where I'd left Jeb and Fang as the less distance I had to travel the better. As I flew over the roads surrounding the remains of our safe house I eventually spotted a black van with no cars behind it or approaching it, I knew the window of opportunity was small so I had to act fast. I swooped down and as I passed over the top of the van I punched the roof, the bang was sufficient to make the driver pull over and stop. As he stepped out the vehicle I jumped down from the roof and just stood there with my wings stretched out as far as they could go; the guy freaked out and ran off, simple I now had a van.

I got back to the still smouldering ruins and saw that Fang was now up and about.

"Are you back to your old self yet Fang or do I need to floor you again?"  
"No worries about me Jax, from what Jeb has told me it seems I owe you an apology."  
"That can wait; right now we need to get the flock back. Jeb, the plan?"

Jeb came out of the old van carrying 3 rucksacks, he tossed one to me and Fang and then got in the new van and said he'd explain on the way. During the journey Jeb explained that Fang was too act like he was still under the manipulation of Itex, when we got close enough he was to take over driving and Jeb and myself were to go in the back with our hands supposedly tied. Once we got to the facility and were met by Itex personnel that's when we'd spring into action, chances are the personnel greeting us wouldn't be very high level but they'd still haver basic clearance to get into the facility, we knock them out take their key cards and head in. Once inside it'll be a case of shot first and ask questions later, the bags Jeb had given us were filled with 9mm pistols and magazines. Once we find the flock the strength of the group will increase exponentially and so will hopefully our odds of escaping.

"Jeb there's just one flaw. Once we're outside you're the only one who can't fly and they're not just going to let you drive away from there."  
"I know, I don't intend to survive this. My biggest mistake in this life was being a part of Itex in the first place regardless of my reasons, Max and her destiny are bigger than all of us and she has to be allowed to continue on her path at all costs."

I was expecting some pretty strong opposition from Fang about this fatal flaw but he remained silent.

That was how the rest of the journey went, we drove along in silence until we reached the spot where Fang was to switch places with Jeb. Fortunately I didn't have any plans on letting Jeb die and as the switch was taking place I put my own plan into action.

"I'm sorry to the both of you, I really am."

As Fang was climbing out of the van I punched him at the base of his skull as hard as I could and he slipped into unconsciousness, I climbed out the back and walked round to the driver's side where Jeb was;

"Two choices Jeb, you either drive Fang away from here and off into Europe letting me give the flock your co-ordinates or you get knocked out here."  
"Jax, this is insane! You can't possibly hope to do this alone."  
"This is all because of me, I won't let you throw your life away to rectify my mistake, and anyway I have some unfinished business with Amy and Dr. Harlow."  
"Then you'll have to knock me out."

I paused for a second and then punched Jeb in his lower jaw knocking him out cold as well. I went back to grab the bags and get all the equipment I needed, I strapped on two chest holsters for the pistols and filled up all available space with spare magazines. At the bottom of the third bag I found a bag with several thousand pounds in it;

'This should work.'

I took the money and found the nearest person who could drive, I offered them the money if they drove the van as far away from here as they could in the next 3 hours and once they had done that they were to park it up and text the only number saved in the phone with the words; 'They're safe', after that they were to leave the phone in the glove box and head home. Unsurprisingly the offer of several thousand pounds cash meant it wasn't long till I had someone driving away in the van. With that part of my plan sorted I took off and headed to the Itex facility. As I landed I drew my first gun and made sure it was loaded and ready to fire, I tucked it back into the holster and checked the second; both were good to go.

'Jax, let me go. You know what I'm capable of, they won't stand a chance against the two of us.'

As I walked into the lobby the voice I'd heard before started to flare up and offer assistance;

'You're right I do know what you're capable of….you better not be messing me around.'

I got half-way through the lobby before I was surrounded by guards, I felt a huge tingling sensation all over my body and then a huge wave of pale blue Psi energy erupted outwards knocking the guards down.

'I'm just getting started.'

Ignoring the voice I headed over to the lead guard and placed my hands on his head, seconds later I had his key card, codes and directions to my next waypoint. I called the lift and walked in, using the guard's card and code I was able to access the lower facility;

'You're right, this is way too easy.'

The elevator doors slid open and I threw out a flash bang, after the thing had exploded I walked out and drew my guns, there were several guards staggering backwards flanked by several Erasers, 12 shots later and they were all dead. I carried on walking and now had the alarms blaring out of nowhere. As I rounded another corner there was a single Eraser who had an overly cocky look on his face;

"Hello beasty."

The Eraser crunched his fists and then threw several bolts of Psi energy towards me, I felt the voice take control and with a few flicks of my wrists I knocked the approaching bolts away, with the last one I caught it in my hand spun round on the spot and added my own portion of energy to it, once I'd done a full 360 turn I flung the bolt back at the astounded Eraser and as he flew backwards a single shot to the head ended him. Not wanting to face any more surprises I made sure to probe the beasts mind before I carried on, it seemed that Itex had had limited success at giving Erasers Psionic skills although the failure rate far exceeded the success rate. I was also able to gleam a greater understanding of the facility from the Erasers memory along with the exact location of the flock and Emma.

'They're still 5 floors down.'  
'Best we get moving then, I'm getting bored with this lack of opposition.'

I carried on down the corridor and after rounding several more corners I heard a group running up behind me, I spun round and launched a wave of Psi energy down the corridor all 6 Erasers were knocked down, then I heard a gun cock behind my head and felt the cold metal of its barrel press against my head.

"Give up Jax and you'll live."  
"You should've pulled the trigger when you had the chance…."

I grabbed the Erasers wrist and flung him over my shoulder, as he fell I disarmed him and used his own gun to kill him, then I emptied the rest of the clip into the group of Erasers I'd floored seconds earlier. Feeling the pressure of time now I broke into a run and soon found another elevator, this time I had neglected to obtain a key card.

'Shit! I don't have time for this!'  
'Leave it to me.'

My whole body was engulfed in pain as the voice took over once again and forced the doors open, once they'd been secured I could feel the voice trying to raise the lift;

'You need to let me go fully or else this won't work!'

'I'm not giving you full control, not yet.'

I looked down the shaft and jumped forward grabbing the metal cable, while I hung there I tried to outstretch my wings, there was enough room for them to get unfurled half-way. There were several shouts and I looked back into the corridor where I'd just been several guards where now taking aim at me, I waved at them and threw a second flash bang before releasing my grip on the cable and plummeting down 5 levels. I saw the set of doors I needed and once again I had to grin and bear the pain as the doors were opened, I jumped through and carried on forwards. Within minutes I had found the section that was holding the flock, each one was in an individual holding cell with their arms and legs restrained in metal clamps, I walked past each room trying to find a way to release them but there were no locks, or number pads or switches of any kind.

'I can do it!'  
'Fine you have 30 seconds.'

I let my mental guard down and could feel the power wash over me and I have to say it was intoxicating; now the voice was in control. I could feel my expression change to a much more sinister one and when I looked in the windows of Max's cell I saw that my eyes were now completely engulfed in darkness.

"Let's get these doors open shall we."

I raised a hand and from where I was standing at the end of the corridor the doors were blown out one by one. I went from cell to cell blasting away each restraint, the last cell I got to was Angel's.

"Oh Jax, what have you done?"  
"What's wrong lass? Don't like what you see?"  
"I want to talk to Jax not this twisted monster he's hiding."  
"You two let's go!" Max was standing at the door way, I felt my eyes and expression return to normal briefly so I had the chance to spin round and say;  
"You guys go on. I still need to find Emma."  
"Jax we all leave or none of us leave."  
"Fine then let's go, I'll take point."

The 6 of us walked out and headed to the secondary holding area. When we got there, there were 12 guards and 10 fully shifted Erasers in our way.

"Subject 1 and 6 live, the rest are expendable! Including 13!"  
"This should be fun!"

The voice took over again and as the guards opened fired the wall of Psi energy I'd sent towards them knocked their bullets out of the air, I followed up the attack by drawing both guns and several shots later I'd spent all my ammo.

"Old fashioned way it is then."

I led the charge as we rushed towards the people blocking my way to Emma, I vaulted over the guards and started to attack the Erasers with an unholy ferocity, almost instantly 2 had been killed, I finished off a third one as the rest of the flock knocked their respective targets unconscious. Again as Max spoke I felt the voice relinquish control;

"Are you ready for this?"  
"Let's just get Emma and get out."

I blasted the door open in an attempt to unnerve anyone in the room that lay beyond, sadly what was in fact waiting for in that room was something I couldn't even begin to imagine and as I walked through the doorway a glass partition slide across the hole preventing the flock from getting in. I turned around and saw Emma tied to a chair with Amy holding a gun to her head.

"Amy you drop that fucking gun right now!"  
"She'll do no such thing Jax."

James had stepped out of another door that slid shut instantly;  
"You see even though your break in was impressive, it was hardly unexpected. Just like your first breakout, it's part of the bigger picture and regrettably so is this."

He nodded at Amy and in that split-second my world slowed down.

'Emma! Do it! I surrender take control just please save her!'

I could see Amy's finger tightening around the trigger I could also see the voice take control and hurtle a huge bolt of energy at Amy, I looked to try and find James but had vanished, so the bolt that had been reserved for him was flung at Amy for a second attack. She felt to the floor but before I could get to her she raised her gun and a shot echoed out, I came crashing down on top of Amy and grabbed her throat.

"I warned you! I fucking warned you! I told you not to push but did you fuckers EVER LISTEN!"

There was only laughter from the women pinned below me;

"No, you never listen and now you're going to pay for it."

'Back-off this is my kill.'

I felt the voice release control almost as if it was respecting my wish to avenge Emma. I cleared my mind and focused on creating a ball of Psi energy only this time it wasn't in front of my palm, no I was creating this ball within Amy's skull.

I got up and walked away and as I approached Emma I turned to Amy who was starting to clamber to her feet;

"I'll see you in hell bitch!"

I unleashed the energy and Amy's head exploded; the remains of her body fell to the floor and a  
pool of blood start to form around her corpse.

I untied Emma's restraints and lay her down on the floor, the bullet had hit her in the back of her chest and she was losing blood fast.

"Emma, Emma wake up it's Jax. Please Emma come on…"  
"Ugh….Jax? They said you…..they said you were dead."  
"No, no I'm alive and I'm sorry. I'm sorry I got you involved in this whole mess. Listen Emma you have to stay with me, I can fix you."

'Come on, you've got to have something you can do? Anything!'

There was nothing but silence from the voice.

"Jax….."  
"Emma?"  
"Remember…remember that promise you made me?"

Tears were now streaming down my face and I was on the verge of breaking down completely;

"Yes…."  
"Never forget…what I said about it…."

My friends eyes rolled back and closed as I felt her pulse go still;

"No! No! Emma! Emma, please come back! Emma!"

I couldn't hold it back any longer, I broke down on the spot and cried at the loss of my closest friend, the one who'd been through everything with me, the one who'd shared in all my laughter and all my crying she was gone…..and Itex was to blame.

'I'm not losing anyone else tonight…..'

I'm not quite sure how I did what I did next all I know is that I did it. I shot a blast of Psi energy towards the door and shattered the pain of glass that was between me and the flock, they came running over to me and Emma and at that point I just wanted to get out of there. Suddenly I was paralysed with pain, my head was going to exploded, my chest was being crushed and my arms, legs and wings were being pinned by an unseen force;

"Ahhh….."

'Sorry Jax, but a Jump is the only way out now.'

The whole room was engulfed by a huge flash of white light and when the light subsided the 7 of us were on the cliffs of Dover as the sun was rising.

"Heh, we made it."

Those were my last words before I slipped into a coma that would last for several months.


End file.
